STRAIGHT TALK
with Zachary Copfer
Zachary Copfer is a trained
microbiologist and artist,
earning his BS at Northern
Kentucky University and
MFA degree at the University of Cincinnati. Inventing
the technique of “bacteriography,” photography from
bacteria, Copfer utilizes scientific methologies to create
art. With the Petri dish as his
canvas, Copfer explores a variety of topics incuding portraiture, flourescent animals,
and the cosmos. Copfer lives
and works in Cincinnati, OH.
Artist Zachary Copfer
MG: You began your career as a microbiologist, later
studied photography, and have now fused the two
practices into your own unique sciart. On your website, you speak about the importance of merging art
and science. How do you feel art has expanded your
approach to science and vice versa?
ZC: Since high school I have thought of many
scientific theories as pieces of art. I don’t mean
to down play the role these theories have in
the arena of science; rather, I mean to say that
I see science as a process that often unearths
beautiful and poetic ideas that provide deep insight into the workings of the world around us.
There is a possibility that the words “beauty”
and “poetry” are words that we have linked to
the sensation we get when we observe certain
natural patterns. Science, being the discipline
responsible for studying such patterns, thereby
could very well be a discipline dedicated to the
pursuit of beauty. Carl Sagan used to say, “We
30
are a way for the cosmos to know itself.” Maybe
what we call “art” is in fact a moment of the
cosmos recognizing itself through our senses.
What has changed over the past c ouple of
years is how I approach my art practice. Originally, art was a practice of careful observation.
My camera lens served the same purpose as scientific study, a passive inquiry into the universe.
Now, my art has become much more active. I
have begun to use art as a way to translate the
beauty that is discovered by science into visual
artifacts—artifacts that are designed to give
others a glimpse of my perspective on everything.
MG: You created the process of “bacteriography,” a
medium that fuses photographic and microbiological
methods in order to create images out of living bacteria. Can you speak about the path that led you to this
invention?
SciArt in America June 2014