Faculty of Art

Criticism and Curatorial Practice

Ada Bierling

Handle with Care: Disorienting Kin

"Handle with Care: Disorienting Kin" is a research project which explores interdependence, community making, and collaboration through the lens of kinmaking. Kinmaking is a process of deep relating which feminist, queer, and decolonial thinkers engage to move beyond conceptions of individualistic and exclusionary relationality into a world of interconnections. The curatorial component of this research project is inspired by the fungal body of mycelium which grows underneath a forest floor and connects tree roots to each other, allowing the forest to speak, transport nutrients, and collaborate together. Through collaborative mailed collage, the people involved create a lively network of interconnectivity. Bierling's research essay details their process and theoretical groundings, and their zine exhibits a compilation of the collaborative collages created for the project.