Biomimesis ossificans

The mock ossification process/objects that I'm creating are a form of biomimesis.
Biomimecry can be defined as: "the imitation of the models, systems, and elements of nature for the purpose of solving complex human problems." What complex human problems I'm trying to solve at this point is unclear, but that's typical of any creative process: leaping into the unknown. I'm comfortable with that.

I've been collecting images of bone structure, including diseased bone and deteriorating bone. With disease/deformity, the biological system that generates a working structure goes awry. As an artist with a strong technical background in textiles (material structures), this is extremely relevant to my work and research now in tissue engineering.

Bone cancer specimen. You can see what appears to be a crystalline structure growing outward.

Skeleton showing muscle and ligaments turned to bone.

Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva is a disease where the body thinks it's "healing" normal fibrous tissues by turning them into bone. Here's what one website says: "...your whole body is slowly being petrified, as you excruciatingly transform into a creature formed of bone. Except, it’s bone without the smooth and mobile joints of the normal skeleton, so it’s like having a body filled with twigs that scrape and hinder every moment. Why not just cut off the growths? That causes the repair system to kick into overdrive, converting more of the body into bone and faster. There’s no known treatment for the 450 sufferers worldwide, and in one famous case a sufferer survived up to the age 40, at which point his entire body except his lips transformed into bone, leaving him completely immobile." This is a fascinating and horrific system breakdown. A miscommunication of the body creating too much structure, if you will. Structural overload.
 

Normal bone (left)/ Osteoporosis (right)

Osteoporosis is when bone begins to structurally break down, leaving huge gaps between the fibres that hold the bone together. It's like a piece of lace that slowly has threads cut here and there until the lace falls apart. 

Bone is extremely structure-based. I'm creating gut structures that might provide a window into a new matrix for bone growth. This is the first step of my mock ossification. Who knows how this might be helpful in some way in the future, once I get into a lab and do this for reals? I'm also planning to experiment with breaking those structures down to see what other biomimicry I can play with.

I'm deeply compelled by the intelligence of bone to grow and to repair itself, as well as the malfunction of that intelligence system. Oron Catts informed me during the tissue engineering workshop that bone cells have a high level of intelligence, possibly even more than brain cells. It is this type of intelligence, body intelligence that I'm fascinated with as a fibre artist. We can also call this haptic intelligence, haptic being the word for the sense of touch, contact between membranes. This speaks to the idea of cultural contact, whether that be cell cultures or human culture and the role of empathy. Emotional intelligence. My interest in the intelligence of the body and its senses is what drives this research. Also, the way that this innate and perhaps subconscious (automatic?) intelligence manifests itself in our conscious lives, such as through common linguistic terms/expressions. I love the secret truths we tell ourselves all the time, without even realizing it. We think, remember, feel and act from a cellular level (in our bones) and possibly do have all of the answers.

Some more of my gut structures so far (two posts ago I published images of the first knit gut that I made - these followed):
 

Corked gut.

Tapestry-woven (2/2 twill) gut.

Loosely knit gut that I shaped into a scapula form (close to human-scale).

The scapula form still drying.

Dried scapula form.

In the next post, I'll really get into and post many photos of my work with crystal growing and building polyhedrons (crystalline geometric forms). This will lead to a larger explanation of my project so far. The components of all of this studio work are:

1. Mock Ossification

1. Polyhedron Reliquaries/Incubators

1. Disembodied Pilgrimages

1. Meta-enculturation

So far, I've partially explained mock ossification. The results so far are quite stunning, I think. Stay tuned for those very yummy photos.