TABOO - TRANSGRESSION - TRANSCENDENCE

Is the heart the seat of thought and emotion, as the Ancient Egyptians believed, or merely a replaceable muscle, as modern medicine suggests? This question is the anchor of hArt, a short video loop that explores the interplay of myth, science, and technology. Grounded in the Ancient Egyptian conception of the heart as the locus of emotion and intellect, hArt explores the tensions between ancient mysteries and contemporary transgressions wrought by biological transfiguration and technological innovation.

These inquiries extend into The Sky is a Mirror, a geo-temporal video loop that interrogates the boundaries of identity through the lens of the immigrant experience. Together, these works juxtapose mythological and modern contexts, connecting the personal and the trans-personal. The artist talk bridges lived experiences of heart transplantation and immigration, drawing semantic and philosophical parallels between phenomena that thrive at the margins of collective consciousness.

Trans:plant examines the theme of belonging across biological, geographical, and semantic boundaries. Merging poetic and philosophical inquiry, the talk interrelates the means and meanings of organ transplantation, plant grafting, and immigration, revealing shared themes of (dis)placement and (dis)connection as vehicles of trans-formation. Thus it arrives at its core question – can form be ever truly home or is transgression (of boundaries, indeed of form), and ultimately transcendence, the only way to bona fide belonging?

Presented as a hybrid artist talk with integrated artwork excerpts, Trans:plant asks: What does it mean to belong - physically, geographically, and socially? How does transcending boundaries reshape our understanding of life, freedom, and mortality? By intertwining ancient philosophies with contemporary experiences, this presentation repositions embodiment as both locus of identity and existential axis.