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Issue 83 / 2016
GUESTLIST
guestlist.net
PHOTOGRAPHER MAKES ART WITH LSD,
ECSTASY, KETAMINE AND CAFFEINE
Dutch photographer Maurice Mikkers spent over two years advancing a photography project based on shooting
microscopic stills of different legal and illegal drugs. He published the results in 2015.
Mikkers was taking over-the-counter painkillers for
three months after surgery. He used the opportunity
to capitalise on his lab experience, buying equipment
to examine and shoot the medication under a
microscope.
Mikkers purchased the illegal drugs he photographed
online, sometimes utilising the deep web and
bitcoins. He shot LSD, ecstasy, GHB, ketamine and
2CB as well as legal chemicals like caffeine and
potassium bitartrate.
He used a trinocular microscope with two lenses to
look through and a third for the camera, his Canon
5D Mark III. He took HDR detail images and stitched
them together in Photoshop.
The results are stunning and above all, educational.
Through his project, Mikkers hopes to encourage
people to think more about what they put into their
body.
