2018

2018

2018

linen cloth, scent, yellow light

I conducted a studio experiment involving my body and nutrient agar, a growth medium for bacteria. I cast my own lips out of nutrient agar, and then colored them with a common food dye called Red 40. These lips are then placed in a petri dish, where I then proceed to coat my lips in Dr.Pepper and kiss them gently. The petri dish is then left to incubate over the next couple of days and grow new life. My use of nutrient agar, a scientific medium, to cast my lips is a merging of the organic and the synthetic. The use of red 40 colorants as well as the Dr. Pepper on my own lips is a reference to thoughts I have about the way our society has normalized the consumption of the artificial. In a way we become cyborgs through the processed creations we ingest. The final stage of the piece is the growth of the microbes on the lips, this choice to use agar was intended to “make oddkin” with the invisible world that is present and all around us.