Because it never gets boring to look inside creatures, living or dead, here's Cleared: a photo series by Adam Summers that straddles the super-narrow divide between science and art, showing deceased fish in various states of transparency to expose their complex insides.



The project was created by Summers, associate director of the Comparative Vertebrate Biomechanics Lab at Friday Harbor Laboratories, associate professor in both the department of Biology and in the School of Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences, and a man who is, in his own words, "obsessed with fishes."

In a nutshell: Summers "uses simple engineering and physics to understand how animals work."


As it turns out, the 40-year-old staining techniques he employs to view and examine the swimmers' skeletal tissues produce absolutely stunning results—but not before the specimens have been dyed and bleached, their flesh dissolved, and the remains bathed in glycerine, where he then poses and shoots them fully submerged (he's got a detailed explanation here, along with an even more technical, almost-DIY breakdown here).


In an effort to raise these into a realm that's truly beyond the lab, Summers commissioned poems by Sierra Nelson for each one of the aquatic subjects, and the whole Cleared shebang will be on display at the Seattle Aquarium through March.