Ellen Konar and Steve Goldband
Neuroanatomy of Water

Neuroanatomy of Water

Neuroanatomy of Water is a project that examines ocean turbulence, water fiercely powerful yet delicately spun. Each image, freed from the grounding of horizon and shore, reveals lace-like white filaments spreading across a field of aquas in fleeting, ever-shifting configurations that bring the viewer into the center of action.

These scenes bear an uncanny resemblance to cerebral neurons viewed under a microscope — images central to Steve’s earlier career as a psychophysiologist researching the brain’s response to anxiety and stress. Here, as in the cerebral nervous system, are individual moments in a complex process of activation and return: turbulence arising, intensifying, and dissolving back into a baseline state, before gathering again toward its next surge.

The message of these neuroanatomical studies is strong yet subtle — a reminder that even the most ephemeral experiences so often leave deep impressions on mind and soul.