i became fascinated with black water dive photography, where a photographer dives down 8,000 feet or more to meet creatures that leave the pitch black of the seafloor to forage for food at night. this practice seemed so unique because the photographer has the opportunity to briefly exist alongside forms of life whose experience of the world is so abstract compared to our own. many of the odd and mesmerizing creatures they see are transparent and bioluminescent. i thought about how shocking it would feel to be able to witness the complex and vividly colored anatomy of a creature like this, while otherwise experiencing sensory deprivation.

i began to learn about the chemical process behind bioluminescence. i became fixated on the fact that many bioluminescent creatures have precise agency over when they produce light, what color they produce, and how bright it is. they manage this through the process of storing and managing luciferins, a molecule that produces light when it comes into contact with oxygen.

lighting up and going dark allows them to find the resources and protection they need. i was compelled by the idea that the survival of these creatures depends upon strategically revealing and hiding their complex inner bodies in an instant.

in comparison to the level of detail revealed in the malleability and bioluminescent nature of these creatures, the visual information human bodies provide on the surface feels trivial and an oversimplification of our complexity. i thought a way to mimic the glowing intricacy of these deep sea creatures would be to create a shell that borrows from these phenomena and also exposes the beauty of human anatomy. in researching the human body, i fell in love with another unique discipline of photography - brain fluorescence photomicrography. while completely different in its context and subject matter, the method can produce images (particularly ones depicting the cerebellum) that bear a close resemblance to those of black water dive photography. to inform my textile development, i drew upon the shared patterns and textures i observed across these two subjects.

there were six main steps in creating the piece. first, i designed and created a coat pattern of twenty parts that referenced the undulating lines of the creatures and brain images. second, i constructed the garment by layering translucent blue and white organza in various combinations to create four distinct tones. third, i sewed luminescent silicon fishing tube on top of the color boundaries of the organza garment. fourth, i braided jewelry wire in gold and silver, and sewed the braids into symmetrical closed shapes across the surfaces. fifth, i stitched yellow, blue, white, and green cording to the organza with monofilament to mimic the micro-anatomical structures. finally, i painted glow-in-the-dark fabric paint inside the braided wire shapes.

the resulting piece is one that transforms its appearance according to the light. the luminescence of the fishing line and fabric paint both need to "charge" their phosphoric material by being exposed to bright light. at night, the garment lights up, in reference to the creatures that originally inspired the piece. a new glowing pattern appears to float on the body, and the full complexity is revealed.