Artist opens exhibit with things made out of her fingernails, blood and bodily fluids

By Douglas Whitbread via SWNS

An artist has created a bizarre exhibition using her own fingernails, blood and other bodily fluids.

Pamela Schilderman, 41, spent two years creating her showcase, Ecology Now, which challenges the idea that humans are the world’s most important species.

And among the pieces on show at the Warrington Museum and Art Gallery are a tusk made from her nails and glass coral-shaped sculpture containing her own blood.

Pamela said she came up with the idea of using parts of her own body in her artworks after finding out fingernails had the same chemical makeup as ivory.

She then expanded on the idea by using her saliva, teeth and scent in pieces to show how other species could have more advanced characteristics than humans.

Pamela, from Rugby, Warwickshire, said: “I wanted to challenge the classic evolution chain with humans at the top, and make a commentary on that.

“And I wanted to connect my love of forensics with animal species and somehow pair the two.

"It’s probably taken a full two years, what with the research and the development phase.

“It's hard to tell what the response has been so far. I’ve just had positive responses to people I’ve invited, but that doesn’t really count as the general public.”

Pamela, who has been an artist for 20 years ago, said that a TV program had inspired her first work - a tusk made from fingernails.

She said: “I was watching the tele, and somebody said that fingernails were chemically the same as ivory. That’s when I began collecting them.

“The texture was quite important to me - and to make it beautiful - but when people looked closely, that’s when they’d be able to see the fingernails.”

Pamela then decided to use her blood in an art piece, striking upon the idea of encasing it in a glass sculpture shaped like a Gorgonian fan coral.

She said: “I used glass tubes that I blew so I could put my blood inside them.

“I did consider [extracting the blood] myself, but then I found out that it was quite dangerous. You can get air into your vein.

“So in the end, I got a nurse who does it at home. I paid her and she agreed to do it.”

Pamela also had the idea of using her tooth in a piece shaped like a limpet after finding out that their gnashers are the strongest biological substance on earth.

She added: “I got really excited by this, and I thought, 'That would be a brilliant connection.'

“I thought, 'I’ll put my tooth in the middle and use dental wax' because I thought that was neat. I was kind of thinking of oysters when I was making it as well.”

Pamela’s exhibition also features her own saliva, which is encased in a water flea-shaped model - as their skin can be used to indicate pollution levels.

And she also created a sculpture of a rabbit that includes a caste of her nose, which has some of her own scent stored inside it.

She went on: "Your scent is unique, it just gets masked what with all the overpowering smells we have in our environment.

“So I used distillation to get my scent, and I put it in a little glass vile.”

Pamela’s exhibition is on show at the Warrington Museum & Art Gallery until September 24 before it goes on display at the Lapworth Museum, in Birmingham.

She added: “I’ll be making a new sculpture to go with it – a mink with my own hair. That will be quite fun.”