...Keeping in mind the theme of symbiosis, or “Sympoiesis” crucial to Donna Haraway’s idea, I delve into science literature and published books. I find various intriguing ideas and research that uncover our history, time, life, and death beyond an accustomed understanding of behavior and consciousness in poetic ways. You will see what makes our vision possible traces back from a bacterial gene transfer; the protein that makes the placenta came from a viral infection; you know a sophisticated system of microbes interact with yours and return you to earth like a predictable clockwork; you’ll know how to make fungus happy. These topics lure us into a distant past and inspire reconsideration of our connection with the world as ephemeral beings in the present, and how lives and non-lives, visible and invisible worlds are intertwined.
The project starts in September 2024 and ends around March 2025. I have made a collection of recent and significant scientific writings relevant to the topic before starting. My illustrations are avenues into each one of them. Using visual metaphors to spark curiosity and inspire one into the subject, the project aims to provide mesmerizing visualizations of the manifold relationship of us and nature in this post-Anthropocene world we inhabit.
