Jo is an artist who is interested in the intangible nature of visual perception, its underlying mechanisms, and how these mechanisms can be manipulated to transform our visual experience. She seeks to investigate the complex interaction between perception, recent memory and context, to isolate the moment where visual intensity changes from looking to experiencing. Jo has a passion for creation and changing materiality, which she combines with her ongoing interest in science and photography, through the medium of glass. Jo grew up and was schooled in East London and has intimate knowledge of its natural and urban landscape.
Emily is a postdoctoral research fellow with significant expertise in human colour vision and high-resolution imaging of the retina, using adaptive optics technology. This non-invasive imaging technique enables visualisation of individual cells in the living human eye. The overarching goal of her work is to establish the relationship between the structural integrity of the photosensitive retinal cells and functional vision among patients with defective cones, and hence defective colour vision. Emily is particularly interested in a rare condition called blue cone monochromacy, which leaves only one type of functioning cone cell – the “blue” cones. To find out more about this interesting condition, visit the BCMFF website.
The basis of Emily and Jo’s partnership is the art-science interface through a long-held interest in perception and colour.