In Necrochroma: Re-mediating van Gogh, we reimagine one of Vincent van Gogh’s Fifteen Sunflowers by allowing the flowers themselves to enact the “painting.” Through their capacity to hyperaccumulate heavy metals, sunflowers draw in arsenic—the same toxic ingredient once used in Paris Green, a favorite pigment of van Gogh and his contemporaries. In collaboration with radiochemist Dr. Gregory Severin, we introduced a radioisotope tracer (73As) into the plants’ water source, then infused and embedded each sunflower slice in paraffin wax. By slicing these specimens in a process reminiscent of histology, we reveal not only the biological pathways of the toxin but also the broader histories of industrial extraction and environmental damage tied to color production.
This work extends from a larger investigation into the ecological aftermath of mining in northern Michigan, supported by scientific research into how plants and their microbiomes mobilize heavy metals. Yet Necrochroma is not solely about regional contamination or the botanical science of remediation. It also addresses the deeply political dimensions of pigment: how governments, industries, markets and the chemical industry have historically managed bodies—both human and nonhuman—through toxic processes that feed the artistic imagination. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s notion of biopolitics, I examine how life is regulated and administered through the production and policing of hazardous materials; whereas the concept of necropolitics, advanced by Achille Mbembe, exposes how certain lives (and entire ecosystems) are rendered expendable in the pursuit of industrial growth and cultural innovation.
By reactivating arsenic’s toxic legacy in a contemporary art context, Necrochroma forces a reckoning with the unseen costs that underwrite the pursuit of aesthetic brilliance. The vivid green of van Gogh’s era—and indeed our own chemical palettes—did not arise in a vacuum. Instead, the color is entangled with labor exploitation, environmental sacrifice, and the precarious balance between sustenance and harm. The radiographic blooms invite viewers to reflect on how even the most celebrated achievements of art can bear the mark of industrial violence and ecological fragility.