Martian Gardener Project

2024—

Presented as recovered artifacts from a near-future Mars outpost, The Martian Gardener Project constructs an archive of traces—images, objects, and documents offered as evidence of a botanical life once sustained beyond Earth. Mars is framed not as a frontier for expansion, but as an experimental stage that resists mastery: a site to reconsider the fragility of our tether to the living world, and how accidental vitality can still take hold.

Drawing on astrobiology and planetary research, the project weaves fact and fiction to imagine a rhythm of cultivation that transcends mere survival. Glass-held remnants, speculative botanical plates, trial records, and bio-inspired sensing mechanisms map intimate, sustained attempts and adjustments to nurture connection and make room for unforeseen variations.

Here, cultivation appears not as a technical feat, but as a ritual of continuity. Care is practiced across distance, keeping Earth’s life within reach. The project stays with the fissures where worn records and new growth coexist, tracing the seams where our relation to the world is tested and reshaped.

Cybotan, E-Lichen (Collaboration with Dan Mikesell)