Circular System
board, soil, PVA, acorns, eaten and gifted avocado pits, avocado dye, sterling silver, and rubber tubing
2025
Meditating upon the flow of water as a lifeforce, Circular System is a living ecosystem that is fueled by avocado ink. Water is a force of life, and thus the flowing of moisture through dissolvable PVA vessels transforms 3D printed plastic into a surrogate for skin. This digital and industrial material is contrasted with its hand fabrication process. Printed as individual forms, the vessels are assembled with soil bound with natural wood glue and sterling silver findings. Made to biodegrade, the plastic and soil lose form and eventually coalesce into a hybrid synthetic geology. Existing in lineage, these plastic bodies feed each other after splintering off from a single genesis point. Pathways systematize the natural economy into meditative geometric forms. Designed with radial symmetry as a focus, forms act as projected circles, a shape that holds sacred meaning as a symbol for continuity in Indigenous Southwestern culture
Completely biodegradable, the entire system itself eventually dissipates from water damage: PVA begins to dissolve and complete pathways will leak, orifices clog, and pristine plastic soaks up the avocado pigment. To fuel the system is to simultaneously destroy it slowly. The paper underneath becomes stained with marks that preserve the history of the ephemeral moisture through the collection of avocado pigment– the distilled essence or blood carried within the pit. The digital rigidity of 3D printed layer lines blur to gummed plastic that becomes skin-like in its lustrous pigmentation. Simultaneously, pristine geometric form bloat from ink collecting in wells unintentionally made from construction with soil. The ecosystem is designed with artifacts made to outlive the temporary life of the temporary biomaterials. Rubber tubing lives on as a bolo tie, and a silver capped junction point fall apart into a ring adorned with an avocado pit.