Credit: J. COOPER/NOVAMEDIA

In the exhibition Saved by Science, Justine Cooper takes us on a voyeuristic journey through the labyrinth of vaults in the American Museum of Natural History in New York. The photographs and video footage capture a behind-the-scenes glimpse of one of the world's largest and most valuable scientific collections. Many of the specimens seen are not normally on public display.

Some of the images are beautiful, others grotesque — such as the monkey fetuses curled in mock sleeping position in preservation jars.

The museum, with its 25 interconnected buildings and vast vaults, spans four blocks. A five-minute video wanders through corridors dotted with cabinets of specimens, and a soundtrack of screeches, chirps and babblings seems to bring the specimens — such as the yellow honeyeaters shown here — to life.

Saved by Science can be seen at the Mary Place Gallery in Sydney, Australia, from 25 October to 6 November 2005.

C.D.