Mahak Sethia
Synergy of Life
Interdependence, Ecological Systems, and Material Becoming
This research investigates the interconnected structures that sustain both ecological and human existence. Beginning from observations of natural systems, microscopic organisms, and organic forms, the project examines how interdependence functions as a biological, emotional, and material condition.
The project draws upon biological symbiosis, microscopic observation, and environmental interconnectedness to question the idea of separation between the human body and the natural world. By merging anatomical structures with ecological imagery, the work proposes a visual language in which boundaries between organism, environment, and self become increasingly porous.
Where earth meets Sky
Horizons of Connection
The horizon initially emerged as a recurring visual and conceptual motif within this research. Traditionally understood as a dividing line between earth and sky, the horizon here becomes a threshold of transition, a site where distinctions between interior and exterior, body and landscape, self and environment begin to dissolve. This idea of liminality became central to the project.
Observing natural environments revealed that ecosystems do not operate through isolated structures but through continuous relationships between organisms, climates, materials, and invisible biological systems. The horizon, therefore, evolved from a representational device into a conceptual framework through which interconnectedness could be explored.
Central to this project is the study of symbiotic relationships found within natural systems. Organisms exist through complex networks of dependency: fungi exchange nutrients with trees through underground mycorrhizal systems, coral reefs survive through mutual relationships with algae, and cellular organisms sustain life through continuous processes of communication and transformation.
This understanding aligns with ecological theories that challenge binary distinctions between organism and environment. Timothy Morton’s concept of “ecology without nature” proposes that humans are not external observers of ecological systems but embedded participants within them. Similarly, the project considers how identity itself may be understood as relational rather than autonomous.
Ecological Interdependence
Drawing as observational
METHOD
Drawing functions within this research not simply as preparatory practice but as a methodology of close observation and inquiry.
Using microscopic references, biological specimens, anatomical studies, and natural textures, the drawing process became a means of examining structural similarities between ecological and bodily systems. Cellular formations resembled topographical landscapes, fungal networks echoed neural pathways, and root systems mirrored vascular structures.
These observations revealed recurring patterns of repetition, growth, erosion, rupture, and regeneration across both microscopic and environmental scales. Through this process, drawing became less concerned with accurate scientific representation and more invested in translating biological systems into metaphorical and emotional forms.
The act of repeated observation also introduced temporality into the practice. Surfaces were revisited, erased, layered, and reconstructed over time, allowing the process itself to embody ecological cycles of accumulation and decay.
As the project developed, ecological structures increasingly merged with anatomical imagery to produce hybrid forms suspended between organism and landscape
This visual merging challenges hierarchical distinctions between human and non-human systems. Rather than positioning the body as separate from nature, the work proposes embodiment as ecological — shaped through continuous interaction with material, environmental, and biological processes..
Visual Investigations
The drawings, therefore, function as sites of transformation where cells resemble landscapes, tissues dissolve into fungal networks, and bodily forms become entangled with geological textures. These unstable visual relationships reflect broader philosophical questions concerning identity, interdependence, and material becoming.
The circular compositions reference multiple visual associations simultaneously: planetary bodies, microscopic organisms, fossils, cells, erosion patterns, and ecological networks. Through layered pigments, repetitive mark-making, and organic textures, the paintings investigate the fragility and instability of natural systems while also reflecting emotional and psychological states of transformation.
REIMAGINING Symbiosis
The material process became essential to the conceptual development of the work. Layering, staining, abrasion, dissolution, and repetition allowed surfaces to behave almost ecologically, accumulating traces of time, erosion, and alteration.
Rather than presenting nature as harmonious or static, the works acknowledge vulnerability, decay, and instability as necessary conditions of growth and renewal.
What remains
Through observing biological systems, microscopic organisms, and natural structures, the project began questioning dominant ideas of individuality, permanence, and separation. The work suggests that existence is fundamentally relational: bodies, landscapes, materials, and environments continuously shape one another through processes of exchange, adaptation, erosion, and renewal.
What if the body is not separate from nature, but an extension of it?