bones murmur (blog for darwin)

celebrating darwin's 200th birthday:

It was when I first drew a life-size skeleton that I became mesmerized by bones--and also seriously curious about what I had always been taught about the "higher" nature of humans over animals. Not to mention the higher nature of religion over science.

Through my art-making I have become a lover of science. I am completely amazed and grateful for the work Darwin carried out and for those who found his work believable, obvious even (after he helped us see it).

These photographs are of a paddlefish skeleton (specifically, the rostrum) I found washed ashore on the banks of the Mississippi River this past summer.

I am a bone collector, a bone drawer, and a bone photographer.

Thanks for allowing me to participate in the celebration of Charles Darwin's 200th birthday.

for more info on the american paddlefish, see here.

for more images, see my flickr photostream.

'bones murmur
their owner’s story
with an almost
living tongue'

I found the quote here.

(from Jo Pitchford's PhD dissertation, "What Bone Shall Speak for Me? Seeking the Language of Bones: A Photographic Investigation.")