Scientific Artist Wenting Zhu Crystallizes the Seasons in Petri Dishes

Chinese scientific artist Wenting Zhu turns petri dishes into miniature seasonal landscapes in Crystal Garden: Seasons, a vibrant series created through a delicate collaboration between artistic intention and natural formation.

Wenting begins the process by setting the conditions for crystallization, then allows the materials to grow and develop with a degree of unpredictability. The resulting formations spread across each surface like frost, flowers, branches and leaves, creating dense compositions in vivid shades of pink, blue, yellow, green and violet. Some look like tiny gardens in full bloom, while others recall frozen landscapes or strange botanical worlds viewed from above.

Wenting is the co-founder and Lead Science Artist at Beauty of Science, a collective established in 2016 to create projects at the intersection of art and science. Her practice spans crystallization, chemistry-inspired imagery and microphotography, using scientific processes to reveal forms and patterns that might otherwise remain unseen.

More art on the grid via Beauty of Science