Ananya Dunn
Second Skins is a project concerned with challenging notions of humanness in order to better understand how we can live as a part of our environments rather than above them.
The human body, confined within the boundaries of skin and flesh, is a seemingly solitary creature. It becomes separate from its ecosystem, removed and distanced, negating any facts that it is actually more nonhuman than ‘human’.
My research instead looks to expand the boundaries of our skin and asks us to consider the way in which we relate to and with plant life, and therefore the wider systems we are both a part of, to encourage the rebuilding of kinship between humans and nonhumans.
The living garment, or a second skin, facilitates an intimate encounter between two bodies, physically and visually weaving together the human landscape with a plant’s body.
The Tom Fund granted me the financial support to be able to purchase a greenhouse from which I was able to explore various methods of growing and ensure the right conditions for the plants. It was incredibly useful in the development of the garment and ultimately, elevated my research and learning.
ananyadunn.cargo.site