Chlorophilia : Artists : Alexandra Dementieva

During several months, I was watching an amazing animal that caught my attention many years ago and since then never left me indifferent. This creature is Tardigrade - small but extremely resistant to situations, that can be lethal to almost all other animals. There are about 1,300 known species and they populate the Earth more than 500 million years.

Their other name is moss piglets as they dwell mostly in moss. Mosses is a group of plants that contains 13,295 species of mosses. This group has been around since the Silurian Period. Mosses are photoautotrophs and contribute for producing and maintaining the oxygen content of the Earth's atmosphere and can create biocoenosis.

Common point between tardigrades and mosses, their presence everywhere and since they have survived all mass extinctions, there is a chance that they will stay here forever. I made video diptych inspired by their 'eternity' working with microscopes. The first screen is moss in the process of being saturated with water, and the second is a tardigrade looking for a large island of moss among its small part.

My research process happens here and now, in the increasingly technologized present, it is deeply rooted in cultural and scientific context. Photography and other digital media always record a trace, which indicates the former presence of something.

Attesting to a certain event the trace at the same time enshrines the technology in use, thus acting as a witness to contemporaneous culture.

https://alexdementieva.org