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Skin deep

Kiwi icons under the X-ray

A Christchurch X-ray lab recently had a new subject: a kiwi that strutted happily under the scanner for a few minutes. The result isn’t intended for a conscientious vet, but for walls, as the X-ray is converted to canvas and becomes art.

A parade of Kiwi flora and fauna has made its way through scanners at the Christchurch lab, including silver ferns, crayfish, tuatara and pohutukawa. “The idea is to use this technology with New Zealand icons,” says Sion Walker of Iconix Art, a company formed by three Christchurch surgeons.

The trick is to get the dose right. A strong exposure will capture a skeleton in motion; a lighter dose will include the texture of feathers, scales, flowers and leaves. “It’s more akin to taking a nice photograph rather than just pressing a button,” says Walker.

But Iconix has also found a way to transfer the high-res images onto canvas, he says. “Our proprietary technology is the conversion to a usable JPEG for printing.” The scans hold enough resolution that the images can be blown up as large as A0 size—that’s eight times the size of a sheet of A3—without losing detail. A canvas typically retails for around $1,000, Walker says. It’s a small piece of Aotearoa on a dramatic—and patriotic—scale.

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