Echoes of a Common Skin
This sculpture centers on two organisms from the Ediacaran biota: Trilobozoa and Hootia Quadriformis. These forms belong to the Ediacaran period, a 94-million-year geological era spanning 635 to 541 million years ago. This epoch, whose existence was only discovered in the mid-20th century and officially recognized in 2004, precedes the Cambrian period, which saw an explosion of predation and competition. The most fundamental characteristic of the Ediacaran period was the complete absence of competition and predation. This allowed organisms to exist without the need for defense mechanisms like shells or teeth. These soft-bodied organisms, neither plants nor animals, formed an interdependent, peaceful, collective ecology, circulating nutrients among themselves through methods like photosymbiosis, chemosymbiosis, and osmotrophy.
This collectivistic understanding evolved over time into a more complex form: altruism, and self-sacrifice. This evolutionary leap is represented here by the nematode worm, C. elegans, which I have modeled in a different scale, though it is originally the thickness of a thread. The bright blue I used when modeling it also has a special meaning; it’s a color that isn’t typically in my artistic palette. C. elegans has a genetically programmed mechanism of self-sacrifice. When a viral outbreak begins, some worms self-destruct to protect the rest of the colony. And precisely at this moment of self-sacrifice, anthranilic acid is released from the dying gut cells. This chemical creates a blue, ghostly glow known as "death fluorescence." The blue you see in this work is not a random color; it is precisely the chemical blue of that moment of sacrifice.
The apex of this evolution of collectivity I created is formed by the naked mole-rats positioned within the Hootia Quadriformis. These mammals are unique among their kind, being the only species with an "eusocial" (highly social) community structure, like bees or ants. This unique social structure is a product of their harsh underground environment; finding scarce and scattered food resources and digging tunnels necessitates the collective strength of hundreds of workers, beyond individual effort.
Echoes of a Common Skin, 2025, 24ct gold leaf, stainless steel, resin clay, wood, velvet powder.
Photo credit: Nazli Erdemirel