Mark Grey-Smith was born in Darlington in 1950, trained at the Chelsea School of Art in London, and the Canberra School of Arts where he also lectured from 1988-1996. The artist lived in Fremantle and then in Pemberton.

In 2000/2001, Grey-Smith was an artist-in-residence at SymbioticA, where he investigated the structure and growth of a wide range of organic and inorganic systems. "Germ Type IV" was made shortly afterwards.