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Exhibition Captures The Art Of Science

New Zealand’s native floral and fauna – as never seen before – will be exhibited at the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu next month.

Inside Out – Kiwi Icons Seen in a New Light is an exhibition of 25 images of iconic Kiwi animals, fish and plants as seen through the lens of high-tech medical imaging equipment.

Three Christchurch doctors – Professors Justin Roake and Tim Buckenham and surgeon David Lewis – have spent the last two years experimenting with the medical scans to create the images that will be exhibited for the first time from 3 to 18 February at the Art Gallery.

David Lewis first conceived the idea of imaging flora and fauna when training in England, one he did not pursue until moving to New Zealand about two years ago.

He says he is fascinated with the use of the high-tech imaging equipment to document the skeletal and tissue density of Kiwi icons, and then through the manipulation of the information, to be able to create the type of images that will be on display at Christchurch Art Gallery.

“Because the images are digital volume scans, we have a lot of raw data with which to turn the medical data in to an artistic image.”

The team of doctors say that this collection of images has produced an enduring artistic and scientific record of Kiwi icons.

Processing the images in different formats has allowed the doctors to explore the potential of the imaging equipment and the scans to assist in their daily work as vascular surgeons.

He says the three-dimensional black and white images in the exhibition are of the kiwi, tuatara, gurnard, pohutukawa and koru, providing the viewer with a never before seen look at the structural form of these icons.

Inside Out – Kiwi Icons Seen in a New Light is at the Christchurch Art Gallery from 3 to 18 February. Admission is free.

ENDS

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