Vivian Nye
Portland, Oregon, United States

Artist statement

Although lithiasis is painful and often clinically problematic, I like that our bodies participate in the same processes of accumulation and compaction found in nature.  Much existing art emphasizes parallels between nature and other organs (e.g., lungs as trees), so I chose to highlight the fruit-like appearance of a stone-filled gallbladder. In this piece, I depict the gallbladder as a fig, one of the earliest plants domesticated by humans.