A work produced for the Biotechnique show at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, curated by Phil Ross.
With this piece I explored the natural hues that living organisms impart on the waters in which they grow. I collected water from San Francisco salt making ponds. Differing salinities of water are colored differently due to the particular life forms that are supported. Lower salinities are greenish and support brine shrimp that eat the algae Dunaliella. As the water becomes concentrated by evaporation, Dunaliella turns from green to orange, and so does the water. As the salinity approaches the limit of life, halophilic archaea take over and impart a bright pink hue.
