We often consider what soils mean to us, but what do other bodies mean to soils? Soil-brain, Gut-brain intends to disrupt notions that soil should remain in place, envisioning soil as a body that both moves and behaves. Soil-brain, the audio-piece, takes the form of a meditative journey. Listeners are invited to inhabit soil’s skin, and experience an earthworm entering their surface layer, adjusting their weight, thickness, and porosity. Gut-brain is a tall vessel shaped out of clay. The vessel recalls the digestive system of an earthworm - tracing its form from the mouth, pharynx and oesophagus, down to the crop, gizzard, and intestine. These stacked vessels symbolise the journey of soils and nutrients as they pass through an earthworm’s body - where they are mined, recycled, tamed, and renewed. Together, these two works explore the asymmetrical relationships that underlie nourishment. Is the soil eating and absorbing the
earthworm, or is the earthworm consuming the soil?