soft invasion (2023)
soft invasion is a biomaterial project, that I decided to approach from the standpoint of care.
I was interested in finding a way / an angle to work with biomaterials by doing something, that would not only be beneficial and productive for me, but could hopefully also be beneficial and restoring for the environment and the nature.
“An invasive species in an organism that is not indigenous, or native, to a particular area. Invasive species can cause great economic and environmental harm to the new area.”
— National Geographic, 2022.
For this project, I decided to concentrate especially on two plants, that are considered invasive in Finland and were easily accessible - Kurtturuusu (Japanese Rose) and Jättipalsami (Himalayan Balsam).
I used the flowers, leaves and stems to extract dyes and separated fibers from stems in effort to make twine/yarn. I experimented with combining the different parts of the plants in creating solid bio-based plastic- and leather-like textures.
Photos by Mirei Kato, 2023.