Abbie Bagley-Young is not a radiologist, but she interprets X-rays through the eyes of an artist. The 23-year-old former pre-med-turned-art major at Princeton University has won numerous awards and accolades in the art world by crafting a unique niche from her combined interests in medicine and art. Bagley-Young's portfolio, which can be found on her Web site at www.AbbieArt.com, ranges from abstract images of cells and molecules, to X-ibit, a fascinating series of paintings and drawings inspired by X-rays and completed as part of her senior thesis in 2001.

ADVANCE caught up with the accomplished young artist at her home in London, where she's currently studying the conservation of easel paintings at the Courtauld Institute. Bagley-Young had much to share regarding her art form and her appreciation for radiography.

ADVANCE: How did you go from being a pre-med major at Princeton to majoring in the visual arts and art history?
BAGLEY-YOUNG: My choice to switch from pre-med to art wasn't an abrupt transition. I majored in art, but still finished my science classes. Throughout my schooling, I felt confronted with the difficult choice between the career paths of medicine and art. The combination of science and the aesthetic drew me, at first, to consider a career in orthodontics, and then in art restoration.
This connection between the two disciplines became apparent when I found that, while doing the required reading for my biology classes, I was much more interested in the aesthetic qualities of the pictures than the factual material in the books. It is my interconnected interest in the fields of science and art that I wish to convey [in X-ibit].

ADVANCE: You incorporate a lot of science into your artwork. What motivated you to combine the two interests?
BAGLEY-YOUNG: I have always been fascinated by the connection between art and science. Both disciplines are concerned with observing and interpreting the human body. While doctors and scientists are not generally interested in its aesthetic qualities, the process of imaging the inside of the body leaves it open to interpretation by artists.
The photographic process is fundamental to radiology in that it involves exposing a plate, developing it and looking carefully at the result. By further interpreting these X-rays, I seek to draw attention to the image itself, rather than its medical implications.

ADVANCE: What piqued your interest in painting molecules and X-ray images?
BAGLEY-YOUNG: My interest in scientific art developed from the Biological Abstraction series I completed in 2000, which depicted microscopic biological structures and processes.
My specific fascination with X-rays began when I used a friend's X-rays as the basis for an etching. This print of a front and side view of a broken ankle received a prize for outstanding work in the graphics arts. The idea of working entirely in black-and-white appealed to me. I developed this idea into the X-ibit series, where I tried to emulate the texture and depth of X-ray images using a variety of media: drawings, etchings, monotypes and computer graphics.

ADVANCE: Where did you get the X-rays on which to base X-ibit?
BAGLEY-YOUNG: When I began the series, I borrowed some X-rays from a friend who had recently undergone knee surgery. As X-ibit progressed, I approached several hospitals and medical centers, including a children's hospital. Many of them purge their files every five to 10 years, so I was able to choose from X-rays (with the patients' names cut off) that they were planning to dispose of. I spent many hours searching through stacks of films in order to find interesting images. To thank the doctors, radiologists and technologists, I put on two small exhibitions of prints from X-ibit within the hospitals' radiology departments.