Nicole Clouston, "Soil"

The project takes soil as its medium, engaging the vast array of microbial life present within it and the ways in which we are connected to it. This project will involve filling a series of clear acrylic prisms with mud and nutrients: cellulose, sulphur and calcium carbonate. When exposed to light the microbial life already present — including bacteria, molds and yeasts — will flourish in varied sequence and different layers, creating vibrantly colored bands throughout the sculpture.

Nicole Clouston is a practice-based researcher currently completing her PhD in Visual Art at York University. In her practice she asks: What happens when we acknowledge, through an embodied experience, our connection to a world teeming with life both around and inside us? Nicole has exhibited across Canada in Montreal, Victoria, Edmonton, and Toronto.