“It matters what matters we use to think other matters with; it matters what stories we tell to tell other stories with; it matters what knots knot knots, what thoughts think thoughts, what descriptions describe descriptions, what ties tie ties. It matters what stories make worlds, what worlds make stories.” (Donna Haraway)

An attempt to interact with the local environment of Northern Scotland and its different species through the medium of biodegradable and edible plastic sheets, during the Nightshift Residency at the Scottish Sculpture Workshop. This residency was set up as a response to Frontiers in Retreat, a collaborative enquiry into the intersections of art and ecology in various European sites.

A research based residency, experimentations were conducted by tweaking bioplastic recipes including elements from the local environment. Dyes from broom plants (Cytisus scoparius) and other local plants were used to create colour, and Irish moss (Chondrus crispus), an algae indigenous to the UK which creates a jelly when boiled, was included in the recipes.

Seeds and lichens were also embedded to create textures and potentially attract animals. Lichen is winter food for deer and is used by certain bird species to make their nest.

The pieces were then left outside by lakes or tarns (highland lakes), with a wildlife camera trap, to record how they interacted with the local environment and wildlife.

Video recordings show blue Jays ripping bioplastic embedded with seed in a lowland lake. Footage of the pieces left by a tarn in the Cairngorms National Park, shows a wild rabbit coming and going in the first hours, until a storm threw the camera into the dancing heather.

When the bioplastic was collected it showed tears and strains from the weather, It had lived two nights in the highlands with a 40mph wind. In this respect this experiment was in collaboration with nature, on nature's terms.