‘Topographies of Gluten’, 2025.
Decoupage and acrylic on canvas, 30 x 30 cm.

This small-format painting depicts the duodenum of an individual with celiac disease. It is characterized by flattened and poorly defined villi, which are a hallmark of mucosal atrophy, as well as a pervasive infiltration of immune cells throughout the tissue layers. These features reflect the chronic inflammatory response and tissue damage typical of the disease, setting the stage for a dense and layered depiction of intestinal architecture.

The composition illustrates several distinct anatomical layers, including the epithelium, lamina propria, crypts of Lieberkuhn (intestinal glands), muscularis mucosae, and submucosa. Within the epithelium, enterocytes, goblet cells, and enteroendocrine cells are depicted. The goblet cells appear as hollow white ovals, visually echoing the mucin-filled vacuoles that do not take up stain and give them their characteristic pale appearance in histology.

The enteroendocrine cells, along with the Paneth cells located deeper within the crypts, are marked by bright red granules that emphasize their secretory functions. The lamina propria, painted light blue, is densely populated with lymphocytes, macrophages, eosinophils, and neutrophils. The latter two are distinguished by their multilobed nuclei (two lobes in eosinophils and four or more in neutrophils). Fibroblasts, tinted in a cooler shade of blue, are scattered throughout the lamina propria and are also present among the green-toned Brunner’s glands in the submucosa. Immune cells throughout the mucosa are rendered in vivid green, creating a rhythmic contrast with the reddish-pink epithelium and crypts.

Punctuating the scene — both visually and conceptually — are the black anthropomorphic silhouettes representing gluten. Though physically small (roughly one centimeter each), these figures are intentionally distributed across the tissue, climbing its layers like bouldering routes. Their stark black forms interrupt the anatomical harmony, mirroring the disruptive role gluten plays in the pathology of celiac disease. Yet these climbing silhouettes are also deeply personal: they refer directly to the recipient of the painting — an avid boulderer and board game designer and researcher living with celiac disease — linking the cellular and the symbolic, the medical and the lived.

Created as a loving gift from his wife, the painting bridges the scientific and the emotional. The background glows with vibrant hues of yellow, pink, and red, evoking the warmth and drama of fireworks — another motif drawn from a game he is currently developing — and infusing the biological subject matter with intimacy and meaning.

Despite its modest scale, Topographies of Gluten presents a narrative that is at once biological, personal, and symbolic — a reflection on the inner terrain of illness, the immune system’s vigilant misfires, and the body as both battlefield and landscape. It is also a gesture of care: a precise and thoughtful rendering of one person’s lived experience, translated into image through close attention and affection.