Aerial Roots Habitat (2020-2022)

Aerial roots are an adaptation found in certain plant species, particularly in environments where the plant might not have a stable or deep enough ground to root in. These roots grow above the soil and help the plant access nutrients, moisture, or support. This adaptation allows the plant to survive in challenging or unstable environments where regular roots wouldn't suffice.

In our fully globalized society, Aerial Roots Habitat examines the complexities of belonging through the voices of 18 young people shaped by migration and multicultural identities. The participants hail from diverse countries, including Canada, Bolivia, Palestine, Nepal, Thailand, Germany, the UK, Romania, Russia, Brazil, Finland, and many others. Some were born to parents from different countries, while others have moved between cultures due to family separation, study, or personal choice—oscillating between multiple cultural landscapes. While globalization has expanded their worlds, it has also left many feeling uprooted, disconnected from local cultures, and distanced from family—never fully belonging, even in their birthplace.

The installation presents these 18 online conversations alongside a year-long visual documentation of Näsijärvi Lake, one of Finland’s largest lakes, its shifting surface mirroring fluid identities and working as a symbol for the water that separates yet connects Earth’s continents. AI-driven linguistic analysis, conducted before AI became mainstream, distilled each hour-long conversation into word patterns, later compiled into The Home Book, a visual and textual map of displacement and adaptation. The work is further accompanied by an aerial soundscape composed by sound designer Allan Castellanos, immersing viewers in a meditative and contemplative state. The project explores the challenges of being a "child of the globe," highlighting globalization's impact on mental health and its role in rising racism within an interconnected yet fragmented world.