Sophia's 'biological art' goes on show in Melbourne

What mood are you in? And why?

Good or bad moods are not just shaped by events or relationships but a whole gamut of things – including diet, sound, the air you breathe, you name it!

Graduate Sophia Charuhas says mood starts at a microbial level as it using art to communicate her message.

Her graduate show from the Liverpool School of Art and Design, called Microbial Mood, brought art and science together with a topical message that helps to explain the explosion in mental health issues in our society.

Now, her project has been selected by the global Science Gallery Network to go on show at the new permanent Science Gallery Melbourne, Australia which opens later this month.

'Amazing achievement'

“This is an amazing achievement by Sophia at an international level,” said MA Art in Science programme leader Mark Roughley.

Sophia, who graduated in 2019, was introduced to the Science Gallery Network through her course at LJMU, says: “I hope that when people learn about the way that our microbiomes influence our moods, and how everyday factors such as the foods we eat and the sounds we’re exposed to potentially influence our microbiomes, they will feel more agency in their own mental health. That is really what Microbial Mood is all about.”

A biology graduate from Liberty University in the US, Sophia stayed in Liverpool volunteering after graduation and now works as a as a medical writer for the National Institutes of Health.

“I wanted to combine science and art, and while studying at LJMU, I learned that there are many more ways that science and art can overlap.

Great time at LJMU

“I greatly enjoyed my time at LJMU, and I left with a broader appreciation for what constitutes creative work, and particularly creative science communication. Being a science artist is not so much a career as a way of approaching life, and I intend to take that approach that I learned into my current occupation and whatever I may do next.”

Sophia’s 'bioart' work is part of the Melbourne Science Gallery’s upcoming ‘MENTAL: Head Inside’ exhibition, or find out more about Sophia's work on her Instagram.