Under The Skin We Shine Brightest is an immersive installation using AI, digital prints and video projection to draw parallels between the myth of the fairies as the protectors of forests and the symbiotic relationship of the Alder Tree with the bacteria Frankia Alni. This relationship produces the soil-enriching element nitrogen.
To imagine the look of the fairies’ non-human appearance, AI is used to create latent walk videos trained on datasets of plants scanned with XRF Spectroscopy.
Inspired by Slavic and Balkan nations’ mythology on fairies, as well as scientific research and collaboration with botanists across North Macedonia, Albania and Serbia, the work reimagines our relationship with nature through the viewpoint of microbial creatures and symbiotic relationships of tres and bacteria, asking viewers to contemplate their connection to nature.
The piece was shown as part of Substrates, a group exhibition curated by Claudia Paetzold shown at the Serbian Cultural Centre Paris, France.
Under The Skin, We Shine Brithest is kindly supported by the Ministry of Culture Republic of North Macedonia.