Fils de la Vie - Threads of Life

Threads of Life interweaves the stories of the three Fates, the origin of life, genetics and the development of human communication. It explores our endless search for meaning through arts and sciences and the stories we tell ourselves.

There are multiple ways to enter the book through its multiple narratives.

First Box - Clotho, she who spins the thread of life from the distaff to the spindle. The story in the upper drawer narrates the evolution of life on earth, from its earliest known origins near hydrothermal vents to the present. The narrative is created with quotes in four languages that each relates to the organism it represents. The back image is that of a tangled web as we now understand the evolution of life has not been linear.

Second Box - Lachesis, she who measures the thread of life. The story centers on Homo Sapiens, with the 23 chromosomes. Following the same organization, the narrative is created by quotes that are connected to their respective chromosomes. The back image is a tree like structure reminiscent of dendrites and neuronal connections.

Third Box - Atropos, she who cuts the thread of life. Inspired by Samuel Morse who invented the telegraph after the death of his beloved wife, Lucretia, the book centers on the history of communications, the threads that connect us. The narrative tells the names of the three Fates in Morse code. The back image is an abstracted representation of a loom.

All the stories reference historical and mythological women who were weavers and makers and sometimes changed the course of history, like the great Lucretia whose death gave birth to the Roman Republic.

Vertical Drawers from bottom to top:

1- threads of DNA [double spiral and square knots with DMC embroidery cotton]

2- single cells [silk ribbons, threads, encased in hexagonal structure made of book board and abaca paper handmade by the artist and covered with beeswax]

3- more complex forms of life [tessellations of handmade abaca paper]

4- evolution of threads to textile to text [woven hexagonal structures made of hand dyed paper thread/Japanese moro-jifu]

5- sketch book that contains hand written text and drawings narrating some of the research that went into making the three final stories

6- story [each book in the upper drawer is a 23 panels hexagonal boustrophedon accordion structure; original drawings and digital printing on Hahnemühle Ingres, finished with beeswax; small magnets hidden in each book’s cover to easily retrieve the books from drawer]