Lara Tabet's "Vitreous Body": Art Through Bacterial Collaboration
At the Cloître Saint-Trophime, the BMW exhibition at Rencontres d’Arles features the latest creations by Lebanese artist and medical biologist Lara Tabet. Titled "Le corps vitré" (Vitreous Body), these remarkable pieces, developed in collaboration with curator Yasmine Chemali, glow with deep reds, blues, and amber hues, recalling antique stained-glass windows from afar. Upon closer inspection, however, the artistry dissolves into intricate networks of branching bacterial colonies and soft color transitions, appearing simultaneously geological, microscopic, and painterly, yet none were produced using traditional photographic equipment.
The artistic process begins with water samples gathered from various locations across Marseille – including rivers, canals, fountains, estuaries, and even roadside puddles – each harboring its unique community of microorganisms. Tabet explains that she establishes the conditions, and then these living organisms become the creators. In her laboratory, these water samples are cultivated in Petri dishes, allowing the bacterial communities to flourish. Subsequently, these developed bacterial patterns are transferred onto unexposed color photographic film. The microorganisms then consume the gelatin coating of the film, progressively eroding the underlying color emulsions, which in turn reveals unexpected blends of reds, blues, yellows, and blacks. Tabet refers to this distinctive method as bacteriography, describing it as a photographic language generated by and through bacteria. The technique evolved organically from Tabet's expertise in chemical pathology, where cultivating microorganisms on gelatin-based media is routine, making photographic film a surprisingly familiar material for her. This perspective allowed her to envision the film as a dynamic medium where microscopic life could leave its unique imprint. The final appearance of each image is never entirely predetermined by the artist; while Tabet selects the water sources, prepares the cultures, and initiates the process, the subsequent development is solely driven by the bacteria. Each sample yields a distinct outcome, influenced by the specific microbial communities present in the water. Tabet emphasizes that untouched film facilitates the emergence of forms beyond human control or intention, an aspect she finds profoundly spiritual and central to her exploration of diverse linguistic and conceptual realms.
The exhibition, "Le corps vitré," provides a biological map of Marseille, featuring each sample displayed alongside its collection site and a bacteriological analysis that identifies water quality indicators like E. coli. These scientific results are integrated behind the glass, offering an additional layer of interpretation to the artworks. Tabet, asserting her scientific background, clarifies that she is not merely visualizing data. For instance, a sample collected near an organic-rich sewer collector resulted in dense black areas where bacteria heavily consumed the film, while other samples remain lighter, revealing delicate color gradients. Environmental factors such as weather, rainfall, and seasonal changes, along with the prevailing microbial populations on the collection day, all contribute to the final artistic expression. Collectively, these works form what Tabet terms 'a biological cartography of Marseille in February 2026,' a temporal snapshot of the city's microscopic ecosystems. The exhibition culminates in an impressive glass installation, reminiscent of an altarpiece, which draws inspiration from Marseille's historical connection to water. This centerpiece integrates samples from the city's two historic rivers, along with the Canal de Marseille and the Canal de Provence, engineered waterways that continue to supply potable water today, echoing the significance of the nearby Palais Longchamp, built in the 19th century to commemorate the resolution of water shortages.
Throughout "Le corps vitré," glass plays a pivotal role, not only as a display medium for the photographic works but also as a symbolic link between the various disciplines involved. It references the microscope slides used in biological observation, the glass plates that marked the genesis of photography, and the ancient art of stained-glass windows that have historically conveyed narratives through light. Tabet notes that glass served as a crucial medium in both microbiology and photography. The exhibition's title, "Vitreous Body," further reinforces this connection. The vitreous humor is the transparent gel that fills the eye, giving it shape and allowing light to pass through – a term Tabet appropriates to unify concepts of perception, gelatin, and glass, all central to the installation. When encountering the works, one might initially perceive them as paintings or other forms of art, rather than photography, Tabet suggests. From a distance, the luminous panels indeed evoke stained-glass more readily than conventional photographs. However, upon closer viewing, the colors transform into intricate bacterial growths, patches of dissolved photographic emulsion, and subtle organic patterns, all left by the microorganisms. These influences extend into the exhibition's scenography, designed with curator Yasmine Chemali. The installation draws on the aesthetics of stained glass, illuminating each panel from behind to allow light to permeate the artwork. Tabet emphasizes their intention to merge biological imagination, stained-glass artistry, and the historical lineage of photography. Chemali orchestrates the exhibition as a journey through Marseille's waterways, with individual samples guiding visitors through the cloister towards the monumental concluding piece. Glass panels function as vertical markers, their luminosity shifting as viewers move, creating a dynamic visual experience. This particular work stands apart from its predecessors as it remains biologically active throughout the exhibition, constantly evolving. Tabet highlights its 'live' nature, signifying its unstabilized, dynamic state. Instead of solely glass, the surface of this culminating piece is crafted from agar-based bioplastic, infused with bacterial nutrients and photographic emulsions. Cyanotype layers contribute deep blues, liquid photographic emulsion introduces pink tones, while silver chloride and chromogenic bacteriological media produce ochres and nuanced color shifts as bacterial colonies continue to develop. For Tabet, this piece encapsulates the core themes of the exhibition within a single material. Different bacteriological media alter their hues based on the microorganisms growing within them, collectively symbolizing 'all the waters,' which Tabet refers to as the vitreous body. Ultimately, Tabet views her work through a feminist lens, particularly concerning the body. She highlights water as a shared environment for humans and countless other living organisms, where each continuously influences the other. This perspective is informed by posthuman feminist thinkers like Donna Haraway and hydrofeminism, which conceptualizes bodies as permeable. Her photographs embody this logic: water flows through Marseille, carrying bacteria, pollutants, nutrients, and traces of human activity, blurring any distinct boundaries. The resulting images are shaped by these intricate interdependencies, rather than by a single creator or species. While Tabet's art originates with bacteria, its essence lies in exploring coexistence. Water acts as a unifying element, linking human existence with the myriad microscopic life forms that inhabit the same environment. Despite the samples being collected from Marseille's waterways, the images transcend divisions between what is natural and what is urban. Human impacts, microorganisms, infrastructure, and environmental changes are inextricably intertwined, all conveyed by the same aquatic bodies. In this context, bacteria contribute color, texture, and form, leaving behind indelible traces of their activity in every image. This makes it impossible to disentangle the artist's decisions from those of the microorganisms themselves. Laboratory protocols, photographic materials, and the existing microbial communities within Marseille's waterways all contribute equally to the final outcome perceived on the glass panels. The artist concludes by stressing the importance of revealing the microscopic life that surrounds us. We share our environment with these organisms, and our very bodies are composed of bacteria; we are all interconnected.