🧠The secret life of our Gut

The Secret Life of Our Gut explores how reconnecting with the gut—as both biological organ and site of meaning—can reorient our relationship to self, society, and the more-than-human world. Initially driven by a desire to disrupt how we engage with food, I used fermentation, bacterial cultures, and interactive installations to reveal food’s liveliness and provoke introspection. Over time, the work shifted from provocation to listening. The gut emerged as a thinking-feeling ecosystem; food, as a medium of communication between microbes, memories, and moods. This reoriented my design practice toward internal attunement and microbial kinship. The project culminates in a bioreactor, ritual practices, and collective fermenting, proposing a cultural fiction rooted in gut-centric values like slowness, reciprocity, and body-wisdom. It invites a shift in authorship—from mastering the body to listening to its microbial voice—in pursuit of a livable present in dialogue with the life within.