The Living Negative

THE LIVING NEGATIVE
Foraged Fungi Transforming Plastic into Biofilm
RINGEL GALLERY
JAN. 11 - FEB. 12, 2027
Using Indiana native fungi, the Green Lab under Prof. Leo Green (Purdue Biomedical Engineering) is transforming plastic into beneficial biofilms — one frame at a time. In this world premiere of an innovation
in artistic mediums, film negatives serve as both a photographic portrait and a living culture, inoculated with fungi foraged from Indiana woodlands, growing mycelium to develop the film in ways no darkroom can. The result is a recursive object; part photograph, part biofilm, part metabolic record. In partnership with Green Labs and curator Julia Peterson, Purdue Galleries is excited to debut a new artistic medium anchored in science!

Image: Leo Green, Julia Peterson, Lara Muniz, & Luke Shinneman, “Exposing Growth”, 2026.