Artist Lisa Nilsson uses rolled up pieces of Japanese mulberry paper to create these amazingly intricate anatomical formations that mimic something you might see in a biology textbook. The technique is known as paper filigree or quilling, and Nilsson assembles each piece over the course of several weeks by following the details from a photograph of a cross-section, which helps to make her work incredibly detailed. The result is her Tissue Series, an intricate study of our internal organs formed entirely from paper.

Each section of paper is rolled on something small and cylindrical like a pin or a drill bit. They are then arranged together in a collection to construct the larger image. The Massachusetts-based artist even builds her own handmade wooden boxes (which fittingly resemble coffin-type structures) to frame the works.

These paper-made anatomical studies are a brilliant way of turning something considered gory into a beautiful work of art.

+ Lisa Nilsson

Images courtesy of Lisa Nilsson