EVIDENCE OF THINGS UNSEEN Porcelain Objects by Annette Gates Autonomous organisms exist on divergent scales: from aspen groves that share one root system yet extend for many acres, to single cell micro organisms seen only through spectron microscopes. Unicellular life forms that live in water inspire the work in Evidence of Things Unseen. From their structure and composition, to their methods of reproduction, and the interdependent nature of their existence, I find powerful metaphoric potential that parallels the process if introspection, investigation, and interpretation. Single cell life structures present dichotomies between simplicity and complexity, delicacy and strength, existing mysteriously and unseen by the naked eye. In his commentary on Poetic Imagination and Reverie, French philosopher Gaston Bachelard describes the root image as a primary image, which "by studying them we may examine in connection with them practically all the problems of metaphysics of imagination." (p.84) Unicellular life structures are to me one of the "primary" or "dynamic" images he speaks of: vehicles that fuel an investigation into the unseen world, both physical and spiritual. Diatoms and Radiolaria are each examples of aquatic unicellular life. Silica is embedded in the membranes during growth providing structure, and is integral to development and regeneration. In water, diatoms connect to each other, growing silicious links or talons that connect one organism to the next. The siliceous nature of the cells parallels the high concentration of silica found naturally in porcelain, a pure white clay known and sought historically for its translucency. A direct material relationship is formed between the source and the finished work. The work is infused with layers of memory, or maternal influences passed down through generations. Forms are constructed in fabric by hand, using sewing and mending methods, including knitting and crochet, learned from my mother and grandmother. The fabric is then infused with a thin layer of porcelain clay, and then fired to 2300 degrees Fahrenheit, a process that destroys the fabric mold yet preserves the texture and shape imprint of the original. Vitrification, or the crystallization and fusion of the silica particles in the porcelain mimic the process of fossilization: the recorded memory of a short lived organism in stone. The resulting objects present a dichotomy of perception, with the soft supple appearance of fabric contrasted by the hardness of bone or shell. The reference to bones or fossilization returns to the original reference point of structure; it is the tracing of a memory, similar to genetic memory. Genetic memory is passed in humans from mother to child through mitochondrial DNA, providing direct physical maternal linkage. The process of binary fission, or vegetative multiplication, used by unicellular life forms also involves the direct transfer of actual cell material (thecea) from the parent unit to the daughter unit. Cells that exist today contain physical extensions of life sources e ex d for indefinite generations. The mother cell generates a complete new "daughter" cell within her cell wall, before division and separation occur yielding two autonomous organisms. Hundreds of thousands of species of Diatoms and Radoilaria exist, some still unidentified. The diversity of forms, the intricacies of structure and texture, and their mysterious existence fuel my interest in them, providing a starting point of investigation and influence. The work is a meditation on an unseen world, focusing on generation and transformation, a process that mirrors intense personal introspection.