Anna Dumitriu Blog

29th March 2020

Explore “Precious Cells” (2023) via your own web browser (on your phone, tablet or computer) to discover scientific, societal and ethical points of view on human developmental biology research. Click on the button below to access the artwork, and then click on the embryos to find out more about this research. This new interactive online […]

3rd March 2020

Bacterial Baptism (2022) is based on a vintage christening gown which has been altered by the artist to tell the story of research into how the microbiomes of babies develop, with a focus on the bacterium Clostridioides difficile, originally discovered by Hall and O’Toole in 1935 and presented in their paper “Intestinal flora in new-born […]

14th March 2020

Linen is the original biotextile and it is produced through the interaction of plants, bacteria and engineering. As such, it has been used frequently in Dumitriu’s work as a metaphor for biotechnology and also as a means of exploring the relationship of environmental microbiology and infectious disease. Works in the series incorporate a range of […]

27th March 2020

“Shielding” explores the impact of the COVID-19 quarantine on women facing domestic abuse and the paradoxical meaning of home as shelter. News stories around the world have highlighted the significant upsurge in violence and the need for increased support for victims of abuse from both governments and the charity sector, at a time when support […]

14th March 2020

The Syphilis Dress (2023) stems from a collaboration with Dr Linda Grillova, George Lacey, MSc, and Professor Nicholas Thomson exploring the history and future of Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum, the bacterium that causes syphilis, known as ‘The Great Pox’. The dress is embroidered with images of the bacterium observed in the laboratory and those embroideries […]

4th July 2024

AI and Infection Prevention (2024) is an ongoing project by Anna Dumitriu and Alex May in collaboration with Dr James Price (Brighton and Sussex Medical School), Dr Sid Mookerjee (University Hospitals Sussex) and Dr Ashleigh Myall (NEX). The project artistically explores novel new research which offers to improve infection prevention and control (IPC) in hospital […]

14th March 2020

“Cholera Dress” (2023) comprises an altered antique 1850s bodice and skirt, as might have been worn by female sex workers who used the water pump in Broad Street in London during the 1854 cholera epidemic. John Snow famously removed the handle of the pump after tracing it as the cause of the outbreak. This pivotal […]

5th April 2025

The “Hospital Acquired Infection Gown” (2024) takes the form of a garment printed “Hospital Use Only” which is being embroidered by the artist to communicate the significant issue of healthcare-associated infections which can develop either as a direct result of healthcare interventions such as medical or surgical treatment, or from being in contact with a […]

3rd March 2020

“aDNA” (2022) takes the form of a contemporary animal bone which has been carved with textures that explore the processes of bioarchaeology and of infection with bovine tuberculosis, a zoonotic disease that can be transferred to humans from livestock. The carvings are impregnated with a piece of ancient DNA (aDNA), known as an insertion element, […]

19th March 2020

A series of works exploring how our bacterial flora might be enhanced to create human super-organisms. Hypersymbiotics™ Post Pandemic Edition “What should your medicine cabinet contain in the future? Perhaps a vial of “Psychobiotics”, containing serotonin producing plasmids that could live inside probiotic E. coli in your gut and make you happy? This work builds […]