SymbioticA

Jaden JA Hastings

FURTHER INFORMATION

Country of origin

USA

Website:

jadenhastings.com


Biography

Jaden J. A. Hastings’ creative practice is focused upon the unique biological trace of our corporeal being through time that is both deliberately and instinctively driven through technological mediation. Her earlier research examined the material basis of our identity at varied scales, from the subatomic to the interstellar, representing an evolutionary metamorphosis of the cosmos into myriad biological forms. Her work attends to the body as a contested space, contextualised within a contemporary, expanded definition of body boundaries and builds upon on the work of other contemporary artists who dissect the complexities of our modern relationship with our own biomaterials.


Research Projects:Corpus Grandiferum

 

Corpus Grandiferum

Produced through the combination of the artist's blood with various ‘natural’ substances, Corpus Grandiferum considers the body as terrain for exploration and exploitation. Through extrapolation, it can be seen as both a satellite (“god’s eye”) view of our planet, as well a metaphor for our material relationship with the Earth.

The imagery is produced as blood either mixes or resists the addition of exogenous natural material—such as metals, pigments, or resins. A series of moving images capture the ebb and flow of red blood cells through this surreal landscape accompanied by the aural compositions they have inspired.

The original series of still and moving images were captured and recorded using only a hacked webcam for a microscope. Access to a differential interference contrast microscope through SymbioticA allowed for higher resolution images with greater depth and clarity.

Marking TimeMarking Time

The title of this project is intended to reference both the military notion of marking time—to march in the same place, yet not to move in any direction—as well as a sense of encapsulating a moment.

A series of synthetic meteorites, the artist's talisman and emblem of our extraterrestrial provenance, will contain her biological material, carefully preserved and archived. In this way it encapsulates a material imprinting upon the Earth that is both temporal and spatial in character. Through Marking Time, the artist proffers a material legacy that is interwoven with the natural history and narrative of her body over what remains of her lifetime.

Collaborators: UWA Earth Museum; Alternative Anatomies Laboratory

PlasmatypePenetralia

Drawing upon Otto Steinert’s concept of Subjective Photography and his drive to move photography beyond straightforward representation, the plasmatype resides within a broader body of experimentations with not only the medium through which image is produced, but exploring reflexivity within the subject matter itself.

The plasmatype process, developed by the artist during her residency at SymbioticA, is a revision of the albumin printing process first developed by Louis Désiré Blanquart-Evrard in the mid-19th century. The artist's blood serum, however, that is used to create the photosensitive emulsion in the plasmatype process, rather than the egg whites used in the traditional albumin process.

This process was later employed by the artist to create a series of plasmatypes titled Primitiae (2015), alluding to their subject. Current scientific research suggests that bombardment by meteorites over 4 billion years ago could prove to be the origin of the requisite building blocks for the production of biological life on Earth (which implies this could happen elsewhere in the Universe). I have inserted my biological material–a set of specific DNA sequences–into images taken through the microscope of the interior structure of meteorites, thereby altering (glitching) their form.

Penetralia

Jaden has experimented with the process of decellularisation within the artistic context since 2013, framing this technique as a process of de-materialising, of de-vitalising what was once part of a living being in preparation for its biophysical resurrection. During her residency at SymbioticA, she was afforded the opportunity to dissect, decellularise, and stain an entire porcine intestinal tract.

Revealing that which is deepest within us, Penetralia unpacks the obscured self. The vibrant colours of histological stains illuminate the anatomy of our impusivity and disgust as segments of a decellularised bowel are laid bare in a manner that is raw and visceral.

Collaborator: Milly Formby, Department of Zoology, UWA

Funding:

This residency was made possible through the generosity of the Dame Joan Sutherland Artist Grant from the American Australian Association and a Career Opportunity Grant from the Oregon Arts Commission.

Period of Research

April - July 2015