‘The world is filled with wonders and beauty,’ Montreal artist’s microverse

Montreal artist and microbiologist Chloe Savard has gained thousands of followers exploring the 'Microverse' in a world of everyday objects.

A Montreal microbiologist has turned her microscopic artwork into a full-time job – gaining over a million followers on social media in the process.

Chloe Savard wants people to better understand science by seeing it on a cellular level.

She calls it “The Microverse.”

For example, one of her online videos shows her scooping a sample of pond water from Lafontaine Park and then putting it under the microscope to reveal the many organisms living within it.

“The world is filled with wonders and beauty, but it’s also filled with stuff that is gross,” said Savard.

Under her ultra-magnified lens, bird feathers reveal a kaleidoscope of colour, and different milks show off very different textures.

Pairing her amazing images with carefully selected music, Savard wants her millions of social media followers to be curious about science.

“Science needs to be mainstream, right? It needs to be accessible to everyone,” she said.

Her @tardibabe account is named after the microscopic Tardigrade, also known as the “waterbear,” a tiny, admirable animal that Savard relates to “because of it’s resilience, it’s adaptability.”

Savard has good reasons for showing the beauty of the natural world in miniature and how all living things are interconnected.

Her work also shows how microplastics and pollution are entering these spaces.

“I’m really passionate about the planet we’re living on, and I’m really passionate about the fact that it’s fragile, vulnerable and I want to protect it,” she said.

Her account is a glimpse at the amazing things that live right beneath our feet.

“I see the microscopic world is it’s like a goldmine,” she said.