the witch in the lab coat
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whitefeatherhunter.ca
SCOBY WORKS: MICROBIAL MATERIALITIES
2017-2018
Across numerous interrelated projects, WhiteFeather investigated bacterial cellulose produced by SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast) as a living biomaterial. Cultivated through fermentation and transformed into textile, structural, sculptural, and speculative forms, bacterial cellulose was approached as a dynamic material generated through relationships of care, cultivation, and maintenance. Together, these works contributed a sustained investigation into microbial materialities and the possibilities of designing with living systems, establishing the ongoing work with SCOBY biomaterial at the Speculative Life BioLab, Milieux Institute, Concordia University.
WASTELANDS (by Tagny Duff)
2018
As a key collaborator on Wastelands, WhiteFeather developed the biomaterial component and bioplastic bags central to the project’s infrastructure and aesthetic. In collaboration (mentorship) with Queen’s University art conservation student Courtney Books, she co-invented a novel bioplastic that formed the basis for the carrier systems used within the work. This innovation and her work to design and construct the bioplastic bags was integral to the function and articulation of the project.
BUCCI with Théo Chauvirey
2017-18
Bucci is a speculative Gucci knock-off that incorporates the agency of microbes and machines in an organic-mechanic synthesis to produce a posthuman garment. Aligned with the slow fashion movement, Bucci engages two forms of cellulose: bacterial cellulose produced by a kombucha SCOBY and industrial cellulose filament extruded through a hand-built, unstable MakerBot printer.
PLUMP AND PLIANT with Courtney Books
2108
Plump and Pliant is a collaborative research project to investigate the treatment and preservation of SCOBY-derived bacterial cellulose within contemporary art. Developed at the intersection of bioart and conservation science, the project examines how living or once-living materials can be stabilized without erasing the conditions that define them.
MOTHER with Yvonne Pelling
2018
Mother is a collaborative biofabrication work that explores SCOBY as both living material and generative metaphor. Drawing on the term “mother” used in kombucha culture to describe the cellulose-forming organism that produces successive “daughter” layers, the work engages processes of growth, transmission, and lineage.