A&D ANNUAL 2020

Isabella Lowe

Isabella Lowe’s project ‘Farm Bench’ is a clear acrylic seating structure, home to a colony of native ants. The bench is modular, allowing it to grow or shrink with the user or colony’s needs. ‘Farm Bench’ aims to shift audience mindsets towards thinking of oneself as part of the earth’s ecosystem, rather than outside it. The project’s methodology centres around critical design practice. On a surface level, caring for ants as we care for ourselves leads to an ‘expansion of the self’. The object thus becomes a symbolic artefact that brings a deep sense of satisfaction and in turn contributes a sense of dematerialisation. Emotional resonance with the ants and object fully realises our connection with, and place within, nature. Through care of the insects, and care of the object, it can be revealed that we as humans can never be separated from nature – we have simply forgotten the connection.