SILKWORM
SHEET SPINNING EXPERIMENTS
In the spring and summer of 2019, I was an artist-in-residence at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. I raised a total of 700 silkworms while researching the history of sericulture in China and Japan.
During this time, I kept a journal that documented my daily activities rearing worms, as well as recorded data of environmental and climate changes, and historical contemplations. This journal will provide the base of a new artist book that I will be putting out soon as a reflection of my Silkworm Project series.
In addition, I produced a square sheet of silk from the hundreds of silkworms I raised, this piece is collected and will be displayed in the library of the institute, along with excerpts from my journal that illustrates the silkworm lifecycle.
Images of silkworm journal.
Harvesting of the silk (left), silkworm spinning on island desk (right top), silk material (right bottom). Image taking by historian and researcher Lisa Onaga from the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science.
Details of silk sheet. Images taken by the MPIWG Library.