THE SEQUENCE OF A CURE: Slide of Progress

Joy DeNicola
Encaustic mixed media
Inspired by photo #3
12 x 9 x 4 inches
 
This encaustic and mixed media artwork is an aesthetic exploration of both healthy and diseased images of the neural network of brain cells associated with the disease of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). The work is conceived on a series of glass panels suggesting "slides" that are typically used to view scientific material under a microscope. The glass panels, or slides also add a sense of the cells floating in space or perhaps suspended in a cerebral fluid.
 
The frontmost image depicts an artistic interpretation of a healthy neural network of brain cells rendered in the healing hues of iridescent silver and gold leaf. It is illuminated to signify the electrical pulses of brain cells, and also to suggest the light of hope and of healing. 
 
The back glass panel, or slide features an image of the diseased or damaged neural brain cells seen somewhat clouded behind wavy glass implying a sense of the disease fading away - becoming obscure.  It depicts a fractured and shriveled image of the cells created in dull gray hues, to denote the devastating effects of the disease. The cells are not illuminated here as the disease has damaged the electrical pathways of the motor neurons. These damaged or diseased cells are placed on the rear panel to suggest the past when the disease is no longer a present threat.
 
The artwork is a hopeful depiction of the progression through time when the cure, through continued research, has  become a reality, and when ALS is at last among the ranks of other obsolete and eradicated diseases that are now only faint memories.