Two-channel HD video, stereo sound, 02:30
2023
Produced during the Banff iteration of Kinship Care Community, this video developed through research into the endangered Banff Springs Snail (Physella johnsoni), a species found only in a small number of thermal springs in Ban National Park. Combining documentation, performance and para- ction, the work imagines a ritual in which humans become temporary surrogate carriers for the snails. During a symbolic gestation period, participants carry them close to their bodies and hum lullabies. Their individual voices gradually merge into a collective song, forming a temporary community around the act of carrying another species. At the end of this imagined period, the participants place the snails inside their mouths. The warm and damp cavity becomes a final bodily shelter that recalls the conditions of the snails’ thermal habitat. A farewell lullaby accompanies their release back into the world. Through this speculative act of interspecies care, the video considers the desire to protect a vulnerable life by bringing it closer to the human body. It also asks where care meets possession, and what responsibilities arise when humans imagine themselves capable of carrying another species.