Installation

Year 2025

Materials: plant fibers, burlap, cotton, jute, sisal

 

“Asthmatic Origin” is a sculptural installation composed of a series of organic structures that evoke nests, wombs, or primal refuges. The forms are constructed with natural materials such as burlap, natural fiber wire, and rope, and feature different cotton textures both inside and out. The installation on the ground aims to create an ambiguous atmosphere: what appears to be a protective space, a nest, a cradle, upon closer inspection may resemble a cocoon, harboring potentially harmful contents. My intention is for the viewer to perceive these forms and their contents as symbolically light and fragile, yet simultaneously allergenic, toxic, and irritating. They can become lethal for those suffering from environmental allergies. The nests that should protect living beings become places that make them ill. This work stems from a paradox: the natural habitat—idealized today as an alternative to globalization, hyper-urbanization, and digital alienation—becomes here an environment that makes us sick. Nests are not shelter, but rather the source of allergies, suffocation, and autoimmune reactions. The piece introduces a critical reflection on the contemporary myth of the return to nature and problematizes the discourses that present it as a universal refuge. The work poses an open question: what happens when home, origin, becomes toxic, even lethal? What happens to people who don't fit into what is deemed  "natural"? It is a reflection on the current prevailing discourse of returning to nature, to natural food, to rural life as an anti-globalization ideal, and not everyone has a place in this hegemonic narrative. It is also a metaphor for our relationship with the planet: the ecosystem we inhabit can become hostile. What if we are no longer able to live and coexist with nature because we can no longer do so?

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