CARDIO – ACTIVE was funded by the Wellcome Trust, as a research and development project, within their ‘sciart’ initiative, which promotes and supports collaborative art and science projects. It was based in the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge where work was created by Pauline and by Judith Palmer, writer.
The scientific advisor for the project was Dr. Jeremy Skepper and additional guidance was given by John Bridger, clinician and Dr. Laszlo Hegyi, pathologist, Imperial College, London.
The project explored the form and structure of the human heart and the changes that occur, particularly at the cellular level, when normal function ceases. Structures within the heart were interwoven with micro and macro photographic images of the foxglove. This plant [Digitalis purpurea and lanata] is the source of the family of vital cardio-active drugs that have been used in the last 250 years to treat heart arrythmias and heart failure.
Microscopy, the visualisation of activity, structure and processes, is the most aesthetic of all the sciences. This project therefore provides for a happy meeting of disciplines. It has broadened my use of the visual language bringing another dimension to my use of images and to the development of microscopic imaging.
Dr. Jeremy Skepper.
Technical Director of the Cambridge Advanced Imaging Centre, University of Cambridge
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Drawings of the heart made in the Anatomy Procedures Room
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