Ela Kurowska is a photographer and a biochemist. She applies her science background to visualize and capture the transformation of formless organic matter into complex and beautiful structures resembling life. To create her images, she sculpts small, usually 1.5 to 2 inches in diameter, biomorphic objects from soft, solidified, transparent organic gels, subjects them to slow deformations and captures them in polarized light. Because some gels have ability to show material stress when viewed through polarized filters, the resulting images resemble otherworldly life forms full of light, vivid colors and rich texture. See Ela’s images in Collections.