Intertwine
a collection of ten eco-visual poems, divided into two sections, in the form of handcrafted book-object. This collection explores the umwelten of diverse species, and how they are essentially intertwined in the larger mesh of earth. Rooted in semiotics, these pieces extend meaning beyond language, and integrated Chinese oracle bone scripts, a variety of biological images, and mappings of landscape silhouette and texture in construction of an ecology of meaning-making.
This section comprises of two poems—‘vibroscape’ (spider) and ‘temporospatial mesh’ (the human mind), bound by a special design. This individual section is intended to set the environcentric perspective which anchors the second section.
Though visually distinguishable, a spider and its webs are in fact inseparable. The silk that constructs the web comes from its bodies; the web is the bodily extension of a spider’s umwelt. And just as the perception of a stationed spider is extendedly intertwined with its web, our view of the human mind should also be ecologically pushing the confinement of the skull, and ‘best [be] understood as the activity of an essentially situated brain: a brain at home in its proper bodily, cultural and environmental niche’.
This section draws an interspecies connection as in how organisms are essentially situated—sympoietically—in their environment. Being situated is an ecological perspective as it shifts from the ego-centric lens of viewing the world from within to approaching one’s existence in an enmeshed relationship. Just as spiders literally cognise with their webs, the human mind is porous, extended, and embodied.
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Diving into the umwelten of diverse species, each piece of section II showcases how a particular species is deeply intertwined with their surroundings. It unveils an understanding of our relationship with the non-human world, shifting away from detached observation toward active kinship. Through this process, the work highlights the multiplicity of perceptions—the countless unique unique worlds experienced by different organisms—standing in stark contrast to the singularity of the dominant, human-centered view. Crucially, the environment is presented not merely as a passive backdrop
for activity, but as the active, vital force of shaping and sustaining life. By dissolving the perceived boundary between organism and habitat, Section II emphasises that every living thing is a dynamic extension of its place.
Homology: our cellular connection
Beyond the ecological interdependence of environments and organisms, this section of the work also explores our cellular kinship with diverse species, such as the hair cells responsible for hearing and balance in humans and the lateral line system in fish, and the ancient blue-light photoreceptors, cryptochromes, that regulate circadian rhythms found across all kingdoms of life. By looking into our shared biological inheritance, the work enacts the concept of planetary anamnesis, making manifest the biological memory that binds us all to deep time and proving that the human body is a mosaic built from the same fundamental components as every other earthling.