What does it mean to think of human beings, not as isolated individuals, but as part of a network of interactions and intersections, in coexistence with other forms of life? The concept of the holobiont, revived by biologist Lynn Margulis, invites us to see every organism as a composite entity: an assemblage of visible and invisible collaborations that sustain life. It is a perspective that roots humans in a profound interdependence with millions of species, inside and beyond our skin. An example is the human microbiome, populated by bacteria, fungi and microorganisms that influence metabolism, health and mood and contribute to our genetic heritage.
From these ideas emerges “Beyond Human Skin /Coabitazioni invisibili”, a visual journey that proposes to rethink the human body as a porous, permeable and plural organism. Through photography, illustration, video and animation, the work reveals ultra-human presences that normally escape our perception. Instead of being dryly explanatory, the work creates an imaginary in which the body becomes a shared site, one part among many within a living and complex multispecies ecosystem.
Recognising the intertwined , entangled nature of multispecies relationships means overcoming binaries such as human/animal or self/other. It is a perspective that resonates with Donna Haraway’s becoming-with, Karen Barad’s intra-action and the my corrhizal networks evoked by Anna Tsing, metaphors for diffuse and subterranean collaborations. If every being exists through others, questioning the human impact on the ecosystem becomes inevitable: it implies rethinking how we inhabit the world and taking responsibility towards the non-humans with whom we coexist.
The exhibition is intended as a first step towards imagining — and perhaps beginning to practise — more sensitive, conscious and respectful forms of coexistence.
Martina Martonsky (she/her) is an Italian artist and researcher with a background in Gender Studies, currently studying at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam, where she is specializing in Animation. Her work is rooted in questioning fixed narratives and exploring alternative ways of representing the so-called human, often combining video, photography, illustration, and animation to create hybrid forms of storytelling. She explores monstrosity, animality and non-human worlds, within a broader ecological landscape.
