Susan Gibson Garvey, curator and conceptual collaborator

An enchanting night sky populated with magnified images of human blood cells… a 7-foot inflatable dust ball imprinted with magnified images of belly button lint… an oversized fabric floor-sculpture of a human skin flake that subtly ripples and breathes… Kim Morgan’s exhibition Blood and Breath, Skin and Dust presents the human body as you might never have thought about it before.

Halifax-based, interdisciplinary artist Kim Morgan began exploring scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in 2014-15 during a HEALS Artist-In-Residence program at Dalhousie Medical School. Concurrently, her mother was facing terminal cancer, requiring many blood transfusions. The artist wondered what might be discovered at the cellular level about blood relationships and disease, starting with SEM scans of her own blood. She was captivated by the tiny universe of vibrant matter that SEM revealed. Convinced of the expressive potential in using magnified images of human blood to consider physical and socio-cultural realities, Morgan embarked on her Blood Works series of immersive installations, sculptures, and videos.

From 2019 to 2022 (notably through the Covid period), Morgan expanded her repertoire of bodily sourced materials to include magnified SEM scans of body dust, ashes, hair, and skin flakes, printed on inflatable sylpoly forms. She worked with conceptual collaborator Susan Gibson Garvey to perform these inflatables, collectively called Dust Disruptors, in a series of offsite and (mainly) outdoor interventions designed to engage a wider public. These have been reconfigured (or, if temporary events, recorded) and presented alongside the Blood Works in this exhibition. “Given the bodily sourced material, these playful works can both attract and repel,” says Gibson Garvey, “but they also provide opportunities for wonder and thoughtful engagement in the matter of being human in the ‘mattering’ universe.”

Kim Morgan: Blood and Breath, Skin and Dust is organized and circulated by Dalhousie Art Gallery, Halifax, NS with generous support from Arts Nova Scotia, the Canada Council for the Arts, and Halifax Regional Municipality. Individual works have received support from Artpace San Antonio, Arts Nova Scotia, Dalhousie Medical School, and Ferno Canada.

Kim Morgan image credits:

Kim Morgan, installation view of (left to right) Room Setting, Sigh, ink on polyester taffeta, two electric fans on timers, 396.3 x 1219.2 cm (396.3 x 792.5 cm installed at DAG), SEM images of blood cells magnified c. 10,000x, and Dust Ball (belly button) intervention, 2022. Photo: Steve Farmer

Kim Morgan, Blood Clot, detail, 2014. Photo: Steve Farmer

Photograph of Dust Ball (belly button) intervention on Dalhousie University campus, 2021. Participants: Noah Kay, Kiara Glover, Vishnu Priyan. Photo: Susan Gibson Garvey

Kim Morgan, Mobile ER, mobile emergency equipment (stair chair, ambulance stretchers, IV poles, other medical equipment), internal and external lights, images on film, 233.9 x 200.7 x 193.0 cm installed at DAG, SEM images of blood clots magnified 2,000-5,000, 2022. Photo: Steve Farmer.