Gut Feelings

With a multidisciplinary background in biology and textiles, Alanna Lynch works with living organisms and tissues. Her research-based project, Gut Feelings, is presented in two parts. The first part is a partition screen with notes on laboratory experiments and written reflections that draw on the artist’s research on microorganisms. Lynch has explored the Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast (SCOBY) – a cellulose produced in the Kombucha fermentation process – and has established a correlation between SCOBYs and her body’s microbiome – the collection of bacteria living in the human gut that assists with digestion and controlling the immune system. The artist emphasizes the importance of microorganisms in influencing the interactions between the gut and brain, linking intestinal functions to emotional and cognitive centres. The second part of the work features a series of gloves made from dehydrated SCOBYs. The gloves, typically meant to protect a human wearer from a contaminating agent, are in fact composed of a bacterial ‘fabric’. The co-existence of contamination and protection reflects the blurring of lines between gut and brain.