The Beauty of Science

I create art for so many reasons:

• I love putting beautiful images out into the world.

• I enjoy the challenge of mastering the medium I’m working with.

• I find the process meditative. And frankly,

• I just kinda have the urge to do it. I’m an artist.

But with a background in natural history illustration/scientific illustration I am lucky

that my work can carry additional significance and purpose. As well as looking

beautiful my paintings can record and convey important and fascinating information.

An example of this is the type of paintings that I’ve recently been commissioned to

create for the University of Newcastle and Hunter Medical Research Institute

(HMRI). For thousands of years Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples have

maintained rich and diverse medicinal traditions utilising more than 24,000 of

Australia’s native plants. And yet so little scientific research has been undertaken to

truly appreciate and help preserve this wealth of knowledge. A group of highly skilled

researchers from HMRI are working hard to change that!

Dr Guy Cameron, Dr Jennifer Rumbel and fellow research colleagues have begun

examining some of these bush medicine plants. A key aspect to the study of these

plants is to generate highly specialised MRI images of the plants’ internal structures.

These fascinating, black and white MRI images of plant cross sections are being

paired with full colour botanical paintings of the plant species- this is where I come

in! It truly is a ‘science meets art’ commission and a very unique job brief for me.

So far, I have created two paintings that have been paired with their corresponding

MRI images. The ‘Kangaroo Paw Apple’ Solanum aviculare and the ‘Black Apple’ 

Poutaria australis. I very much hope that there will be many more botanical art pieces

for this project to come.

By investigating the chemical properties of native plants Dr Cameron and Dr Rumbel

are building up a knowledge base that empowers Indigenous peoples, and preserve their traditions. I think this is a wonderful project and I’m truly grateful for the opportunity for my artwork to play a small part in it.

To learn more about this important research you can:

• Read this article (though you will need a Newcastle Herald subscription to view)

• Meet the team behind this research here. (You can even see yours truly in the group photo at the top of the page haha!)

The University of Newcastle

The Hunter Medical Research Institute

Lauren xx