Abel Schaminée | 70000000 | 2026 | analog photograph

The outer surface of a fossilised sea urchin that I found in the ENCI quarry in Maastricht, the Netherlands. This photograph derives from an X-ray computed tomography scan, made in guidance of CWI Amsterdam. I translated the X-ray data into an analogue photograph using a photographic process that I developed myself, based on the leaves of the English oak tree growing outside my home.

This image brings together 70 million years of geological history and the present: a fossil from the distant past is made visible through the leaf of a tree growing today.

Exhibited at Galata Museo Del Mare, Genua, Italy.