pia

The role of the human body in relation to ecology, challenging Western binary thinking and anthropocentrism. I am specifically interested in what becomes of the body after death. Raising my children in an atheist home, I grapple with complex questions about death. In an attempt to answer these questions I turn to ecology and physics. When the lifecycle of a human body ends the particles are recycled to form other organisms. When the lifecycle of other organisms end their particles are recycled to form human bodies (Sundermier 2015). The cemetery is a space where you cannot hide from the mortality of the body. According to the Australian Facility for Taphonomic Experimental Research there are visible changes to the soil and plants around a clandestine grave (Creagh et al. 2019). Guided by a playful, yet respectful mind-set I decided to explore the various organisms found in the environment of a cemetery. Observing visual relationships between the organisms and the human body, I represent found organisms by means of the body.

References:

Creagh S, Ueland M and Garrett-Rickman S (2 July 2019), ‘This is going to affect how we determine time since death’: how studying body donors in the bush is changing forensic science, Trust Me, I’m An Expert (podcast), The Conversation.

Sundermier A (11 March 2015), The particle physics of you, Symmetry Magazine.