In this piece, a living natural system takes on the form of a manufactured pattern. Tobacco leaves are die-cut into a bilaterally symmetrical pattern and suspended in tiling square petri dishes that contain the nutrients necessary to promote new leaf growth.
Plant cells are totipotent. This means that, depending on the ratio of auxins to cytokinins, the cells have the capacity to differentiate into any organ in the plant. Here the cultured leaves are provided with the hormones that cause the cells to produce new leaf tissue. The newly growing leaves are extending the form of the traditionally inspired botanical motif. Due to the repetition of the pattern, the occupants to the space witness morphological changes in the tiles over the duration of the exhibit.
Since the tiles are self-contained ecosystems, several precautions were taken to make sure that, when the leaves were placed into the tiles, they were thoroughly decontaminated and sterilized. However, as with any experiment, it is possible for contamination to occur. In some, the tissue dies; in others, parasites take over and grow faster than the new leaves. In some tiles, aseptic conditions are achieved and new shoots begin to sprout from the original pattern.
This work has been produced and exhibited multiple times and in multiple iterations and patterns.
Growth Pattern by Allison Kudla from Allison on Vimeo.