Micro-Ecologies: Writing from the Microbiomes Project | 2017
Microbes inhabit practically every imaginable niche on Earth, from deep in the ocean to the upper atmosphere. In humans, too, microbes flourish. From birth to death, we are colonized by microbes. Microbes have the power to ensure our bodies function smoothly, as well as the power to debilitate us with various illnesses. Microbes shape and are shaped by their local environments, their microbiomes.
In 2017, Spring Creek Project invited submissions of creative writing to accompany the exhibition “Microbiomes: To See the Unseen” at The Arts Center in Corvallis, Oregon.
To get inspiration for their pieces, writers and artists were encouraged to attend half-day tours of the microbiology lab at OSU, where they listened to scientists talk about their microbiology research and participated in hands-on microbiology lab work. The tours were hosted by Jerri Bartholomew, the Emile F. Pernot Distinguished Professor of the Department of Microbiology and an accomplished glass artist. After the tours, writers and artists submitted pieces for the juried exhibition and a chapbook.
Select writings were chosen for the chapbook “Micro-Ecologies: Writing from the Microbiomes Project.”
The Arts Center also presented an afternoon of art + science with Jerri Bartholomew, Charles Goodrich of the Spring Creek Project, and Dana Reason, instructor of Popular Music Studies at OSU.