Beneath my skin, cells under (II)
2025
Copper leaf on glass, chemical corrosion with ammonia and vinegar
29.7 × 21 cm
"Concealed by each scab, fresh cells wait to decay with the sun."
My practice is rooted in my experience of urticaria, a skin condition that makes me think of the body through cycles of wounding and erosion. I listen to my skin, see self-harm as a mode of existing, and approach materials as collaborators that share in this negotiation.
In this work, I use traditional gilding to place copper leaf beneath glass. Before the corrosion process, I scratch the surface with my own nails, a gesture that marks the beginning of its decay—the wound becoming the core for the fuming that follows. I then expose it to ammonia and vinegar fumes for three days, after which it is left in room temperature and airflow to continue an open-ended transformation.
Beneath my skin, cells under (II) approaches the surface as both skin and archive: a fragile site where touch, damage, and transformation remain visible. In the work, copper leaf is placed beneath glass through traditional gilding, then scratched with the artist's own nails before being exposed to ammonia and vinegar fumes. The wound becomes the starting point of corrosion, allowing oxidation to unfold like a bodily event within an intimate, controlled frame. Rooted in the artist's experience of urticaria, the piece brings together gesture, chemistry, and time to hold the unstable boundary between injury and renewal. Rather than fixing the image, it leaves the material open to airflow and continued change, treating matter not as something to control, but as something to attend to and encounter.