As we feel the breadth of the Anthropocene’s effects—ecological collapse, material excess, and the lingering detachment from the systems that sustain us—I find myself asking: how can we imagine a future where humans co-create with, rather than extract from, the natural world? In my work, I turn to tactile exploration—grinding eggshells into dust, reconstituting them into new forms, shaping biomaterials with my hands and body—as a way to plasticize the imagination. Through dance and material transformation, I ask: can we co-evolve with these substances, allowing their slow timelines and silent languages to shape our own gestures and ways of being? Can the body become a site of co-transformation—where ritual, scientific process, and sensory engagement open space for futures that are both real and imagined?
A Body (Un)Becoming
We are in the initial stages of building A Body (Un)Becoming, the seventh work in the Desire Motor series. This project is a performance, installation, and biomaterial fabrication that examines our relationship with the materials that shape our physical world, exploring their origins and how they enter our personal spaces.
Our current research dives into theory-based systems of meta-movement geometries (Post-Human Ecologies), investigating the detritus of physical materials temporarily transformed through basic natural chemistry. We’re exploring the kinetic becoming of material—how does material transform into a moving body? How does a moving body form, loosen, and reshape alongside non-human material transformations? How can we co-learn or disrupt known modes of material realities?
During a residency at Dancing Grounds in New Orleans, we developed movement and sound inspired by interactions with natural material origin stories, alongside our fabricated and transforming biomaterials. In collaboration with the community, we created a prototype for New Orleans Mardi Gras beads made from eggshells. Check out our recipe and join us by hosting an event, learning how to craft necklaces, or contributing to our research!
