Muscular Contraction

Muscular contraction depicts part of a sarcomere, the basic unit of striated muscle.  Groups of sarcomeres compose myofibrils. In Muscular contraction, we see the bands and lines that characterize muscle as seen through the polarizing microscope.  Whenever a muscle contracts to move any part of the body these bands, which are composed of fibrous proteins, slide their position in relation to each other.  Hundreds of thousands of sarcomeres contract our muscles in response to nerves stimulation, a typical biceps may contain 100,000 sarcomeres.

This piece was made as a Plexiglass  engraving and printed on paper.  It was part of Melissa Belli’ s solo show, Animalcules: an Exploration of the microcosm within, that took place in Venice, Italy on November, 2010.