Aluminium, resin, chewing gum
2024
Synthetic Genesis combines bodily traces with industrial materials to imagine evolving forms of life. During the production process, I embedded chewed gum containing traces of my DNA into transparent resin modules and assembled them into a large-scale DNA-like structure emerging from soil. Chewed repeatedly over several years and preserved after use, the gum functions as both a bodily trace and a record of habit, carrying the marks of repetition, stress, and everyday life. Beneath the sculpture lie ceramic forms resembling vestigial wisdom teeth and mutated strawberries. Developed through processes of molding, repetition, and distortion, these forms evoke biological remnants shaped by adaptation and change. While the wisdom teeth reference inherited structures that have lost their original function over time, the altered strawberries suggest speculative forms of survival emerging under ecological pressure. By preserving bodily residue within synthetic materials, Synthetic Genesis reflects on the unstable boundaries between organic life and constructed systems. The work approaches DNA not as a fixed marker of identity, but as something continually transformed through relationships between bodies, technologies, habits, and environments.