Speculative Textiles — Justina Alexandroff Portfolio

Speculative Textiles

These objects and materials speculate wearable bio-indication. I explored how ecological sensitivity could become something worn. This was a speculative investigation into ‘wise’ wearables, differentiating them from ‘smart’ wearables. Bio-indication represents a form of metabolising environmental conditions that is more-than-human (and more than human created computation).

The tobacco plant variety named Bel-W3 shows discoloured markings (or ‘tattoos’) on it’s leaves when exposed to ground level ozone pollution. I was unable to acquire this plant and therefore tested the idea with cress, using the more flexible and porous agar-based bioplastics to house the seeds, much like an agar petri dish. I left gelatin based bioplastics in different areas of my house to see if they would cultivate different fungi when drying, speculating around indicative bio-earrings. Lastly, mosses are recognised as one of the important bioindicators and biomonitors of air pollution and I therefore embedded park moss in flexible, agar biomaterial textiles.