Moss Animals

A single-channel work in progress video art piece reconceptualizing select passages of On Molecular and Microscopic Science, a two-volume text published by the first female member of the Royal Astronomical Society, Mary Somerville, in 1869. Somerville, a self-taught polymath studying physics, light, and biology, became well-known in 19th century scientific circles. The word “scientist” was actually coined for her in 1834, a feminized adaptation of the then-used term “man of science”.

"Perhaps no woman of science until Marie Curie was as widely recognized in her own time...not only did [Somerville's works] bring scientific knowledge in a broad range of fields to a wide audience, but thanks to her exceptional talents for analysis, organization, and presentation, they provided definition and shape for an impressive spread of scientific work.”

Focusing on "…the most prominent discoveries in the life and structure of the lower vegetable and marine animals," Somerville's work broke new ground. Unlike her contemporary Jane Marcet, Somerville’s research was addressed to the professional scientific community as opposed to focusing on the education of women or school-aged children; and in this sense she broke through a glass ceiling to be taken seriously by the leading thinkers of her day. The philosopher John Stuart Mill so highly valued her work that he requested hers to be the first signature on his Parliamentary petition advocating for women's suffrage.

Weaver’s video work draws from Somerville’s astute observations of the natural world, still applicable 150+ years later. Shots are comprised of lower “lower vegatable and marine life” forms, including marine algae and bryozoa in the Chesapeake Bay, juxtaposed with folio scans, Somerville’s illustrations, and ephemera from her life. Bryozoa, from the Greek “moss animals”, are tiny, colony-dwelling organisms that coat strands of seaweed, surviving quietly through collective effort, but tossed by the waves, maybe eventually stranded by the tides, shipwrecked on the sandy shore. Metaphors for individual smallness and greatness alike, individual and collective effort, individual and collective suffering.

Deus magnus in magnis, maximus in minimis.
—St. Augustine