Haem
2016
Cecilia Jonsson / Rodrigo Leite de Oliveira
HD Video 09:27 minutes
Haem
Iron, perhaps paling in nobility to its gold and silver elemental companions, through its nature and abundance has emerged as essential to life. The iron that runs through our veins and allows us to breathe is the same element from which the weapons, shields and tools were fashioned that have allowed humanity to not only survive, but flourish, for millennia.
The physical basis of Haem is iron derived from an unexpected source – the human placenta. Although this transitional organ possesses a complex labyrinth of blood vessels, the placenta provides a direct connection between mother and developing child. Iron, plentiful throughout the process of exchange, plays an essential role, moving through this “maze”, guiding oxygen from the mother to the foetus.
To symbolize this directed movement, a compass needle made out of metallic iron derived from the blood protein haemoglobin of donated human placentas was created. This object concentrates the labour of dozens of births, of thousands of hours of fluid exchange, at the earliest meeting point between new and existing life. By combining expertise in the fields of art, life sciences and metallurgy, Haem reflects on the transformation of maternal resources into valuable personal processes, and on their power to direct us throughout life in the decisions we make, and directions we take, ultimately shaping who we are and the world we live in.
Haem is exhibited as an installation with the compass apparatus floating in the midst of a custom-made glass bowl inspired by cross-sections of microscopic imaging of the placenta. The magnetized needle that aligns itself towards the north, moves in a counter clockwise direction to the slowly rotating bowl it is in. Accompanying the installation is a sound composition and a selective archive about the process, shown as a HD Video and wall-mounted vinyl letters that record the birth date and weight of the 69 donated placentas.
Credits
Haem is developed by artist Cecilia Jonsson in close collaboration with Dr. Rodrigo Leite de Oliveira of The Netherlands Cancer lnstitute. Commissioned by Bio Art & Design Awards 2016 with the support of ZonMw. In cooperation with the department of gynecology and obstetrics at hospital OLVG West and blacksmith Thijs Van der Manakker. The Haem HD Video is by Signe Tørå Karsrud and sound by Sergio Cuervo Gonzalez.
Bio
Cecilia Jonsson (SE/NO) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Bergen. Cecilia explores links between the mineral domain and living entities as both a method for observation and as a medium. Her projects develop as investigations of physical and ideological properties of the raw materials that are fundamental to human existence, from their origins deep in the ground, to the extraction, transformation and global exploitation. Cecilia received her MA in Fine Art from Bergen Academy of Art and Design and the Nordic Sound Art MA program. In 2014, she was awarded prize in VIDA 16.0 Art and Artificial Life International Awards for her project The Iron Ring. Cecilia made the 170 meters’ deep, rock-core drilling work for The Dark Ecology project, and won the Dutch Bio Art and Design Award 2016. Cecilia received an Honorary Mention in the Category of Hybrid Art of The Prix Ars Electronica 2017.