High Altitude Bioprospecting

KANGAS

Kangas (Fabric)

Heidi Pietarinen (FI), Noora Sandgren (FI), Anne Yoncha (US), Melissa Grant (UK)

Jacquard weaving

2021

This jacquard weaving stitches together images from drawings, photographs and microscopic slides from the Kilpisjarvi expedition. The group of artists are interested in the Finnish idea of ‘kangas’ - a word which translates to ‘fabric’ and ‘forest type’, describing the intricate meshing of species, human and non-human, aerial and terrestrial. After collecting and identifying the microbial ‘collaborators’ in Kilpisjärvi, this piece attempts to get to know these other-than-human materials. The artists ask: what are the abilities of these microbes? What are the bridges between us? This ongoing process of understanding involves many translations, moving from analogue to digital, and back again.

Drawings by Anne Yoncha used in the development of Kangas

Kangas in situ at BOM, May 2021

Fungus collected at Kilpisjarvi, imaged with scanning electron microscopy