Back in 1983, I got entranced with an episode of the UK TV documentary Horizon called ‘The Miracle of Life’. It was at the time of a big breakthrough in micro imagery. Scientists were able to film the growth of new life all the way from sperm to egg and all the stages of the growth of a human baby in the womb. Originally aired in Sweden in 1982, it was filmed by Lennart Nilsson.
I was just blown away with what I saw. For the first time on film, the whole incredible beauty of a new life forming. I recorded the show on a good old VHS video recorder and then using my tripod and film camera got good enough photos to work from.
It was never meant as a commercial project, I was just inspired to paint some of the images as they were so fantastic, showing the beginnings of life itself.
It wasn’t till a few years later, over the course of a few months in 1986, working from the photos I had taken, I started doing these large chalk pastels. I haven’t finished the project but these are the images I managed to complete. The first one is of the microscopic egg. Seemingly floating in space.
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