Other self (the human microbiome)

Joana has been exploring the microbiome as subject matter and artistic medium since 2011. Other self portraits is a series of portraits created using the actual microbiome of a subject and their environment that invites reflection on the parts of our body that are not human, and the connection they form between all of us, across generations, frontiers and the figure/ground boundary. Other self portraits can be experienced as an online gallery of over 300 portraits (microbialart.tumblr.com), as an installation and as a participatory performance. This project was supported with commissions from the Eden Project and the Wellcome Trust (2015) and, from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (2016). Photo by Stevie Wonder.

Ricou Joana