The Architecture of the Unseen

Often, the most critical parts of our world are the ones we cannot see. Ecosystems teem with hidden, microscopic life forms, each with its own potential to change our understanding of our relationship with the environments around us.

I’m especially drawn to the coasts and oceans. These environments function as dynamic, living systems shaped by constant tidal movement and exchange. I’ve always been fascinated by diatoms and radiolarians, the microbial life that quietly drives so much of this ecosystem.

This fascination with the hidden started long before I looked through a microscope. When I was 15, I learned to develop X-rays in my grandfather’s darkroom. This process became a private, meditative world for me. I realized then that I was an introvert, drawn to the quiet, focused time of working in the darkroom where images slowly revealed themselves. It felt meaningful to uncover what others could not see, and I valued that sense of observation and discovery.

Those early experiences in the darkroom still influence my work today. I’m drawn to slow, layered processes of image-making that feel like the building of sediments or the way the ocean holds both visible and hidden depth. Photography allows me to continue working in a way that reveals meaning gradually, beneath the surface.

I use the awe of microscopic worlds to create a narrative of the unseen—not only in the ocean but in the broader interconnection of veiled systems. What is invisible is not unimportant, and it should not be ignored.

By revealing hidden structures, such as diatoms, sediments, and layered environments, I aim to demonstrate how these unseen forces shape what we experience on the surface. This perspective encourages viewers to slow down, look closer, and recognize that care for the environment begins with acknowledging what is often overlooked.

About Dana Montlack

Dana Montlack is an interdisciplinary artist and educator whose layered imagery bridges the worlds of art and science. Her work, centering on environmental systems, has been exhibited globally at venues including the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and the Whitney Marine Biology Research Center. Dana is an instructor in the Drawing, Painting, and Printmaking program at Georgia State University.