paraport

Introduction

My interest in parasites

Over the past two years, I have produced a series of original prints that illustrate the morphology of various parasites.

These were exhibited at two conferences: the WAAP (World Association for the Advancement of Parasitology) an international conference that was held in Ghen, 2007, and the XII International Conference on Trichinellosis, held in Plitvice, Croatia, 2007.

My interest and inspiration originates in my curiosity and interest in natural history in general, but meeting the parasitologist and researcher Giuseppe Cringoli in 2004, at the Federico II University in Naples, influenced me and certainly changed my notions about what I found to be ugly in the nature of parasites.

Looking at a Fasciola hepatica specimen through Dr. Cringoli's microscopes at the university's lab,  I discovered an amazing beauty of form and function of that creature. I began to be fascinated by the astounding fertility, life cycles and "survival intelligence" that enables parasites to invade and destroy an organism. This prompted curiosity as well as reflection in me. I began to see parasites as invisible warriors invading an innocent host in the same way soldiers may invade an “innocent” site. This led me to pose the question: what is it that makes a creature, a living organism, fascinating and beautiful? What is it that makes it repulsive and ugly? 

 More will follow soon!