The Pig & The Intelligent Wound Dressing

The Pig & The Intelligent Wound Dressing is a reflection on the development of medical dressings by scientists at the University of Bath that detect and communicate bacterial infection through fluorescence. They were first tested on pigskin, hence the pig balanced precariously on a plaster ‘cell’, the red top of which fluoresces under UV light. The eponymous words sewn into the rubber dressing also fluoresce. This fluorescence is a reference to the function of the dressings and to light micrograph images of infectious bacteria. A Petri dish stands as the base, encasing a cyanotype print reminiscent of bacterial colonies. It was made for the Visions of Science Art Prize held at The Andrew Brownsword Gallery, Bath.