Linocut embossing with metallurgical coal on Sumi-tinted BFK Rives grey paper, 100 x 75 cm and linocut embossing with mica powder on Somerset White paper, 100 x 75 cm, 2015

 

I wanted to create a dichotomy between healthy and unhealthy lung, which would also display types of lung cancer. Continuing an ongoing investigation in printing embossings with unconventional materials, I decided to print the diseased lung with metallurgical coal, a substance known to cause lung disease, and a healthy lung on pristine white with sparkling mica powder. The title references issues around imaging and detecting disease with related problems of false negative results and false positive results.  An interesting discovery while researching types of lung tumors was that many have the shape of fractals and that high fractality is a characteristic of a cancer cell.