The Living Wall

“Living Wall,” explores the paradigm of repurposing materials to facilitate the new life of an organism. I used reclaimed wood, an organism that used to be alive in the form of a tree, to create two abstract branch-like structures. Various pieces of wood were sanded down to create natural grooves in the material, and then fastened together with wood glue. The surface was coated with a slight wood stain. I used a metal rod to bridge the gap between them, and used biodegradable twine to fasten the living organism onto the piece. The living organisms I grew were chia sprouts, grown into a paper towel substrate. They were grown in repurposed plastic tubs for 5 days with no sunlight, and sprayed with water to keep the paper towel moist. Once they had sufficiently sprouted, they were moved to a sunlight-rich environment. The contrast between the natural materials and the steel rod emphasizes the way that humans could, even with many technological advancements, relearn to live symbiotically with the planet, as they were meant to do, instead of depleting its natural resources.