embodiment of environmental legacy process by jackie donovan

sketch of my module e-textile design.

There are layers of humus and earth  that have been removed, shifted, and altered to continue our forward motion of progress. In the Anthropocene scope, the landscape is seen as a viewable object, something to admire not to exist in. The state of embodiment counter-acts this acknowledgment, as the kinesthetic and site awareness connecting the relationship of body and land.  This design and creation of this e-textiles piece “Embodiment of Environmental Legacy'' was in hopes to implement systems thinking and to get rid of the notion of  landscape being an intensely visual idea. The sensor is a capacitive, which measures the absence or presence of objects through the electrical field created by the sensor. There are two gloves, on the right hand the capacitor turns outward toward the urban landscape and left hand turns inward, measuring skin resistance. Through sound, one can hear the existence of the body and/or land in space. This is where I offer to explore the site through embodiment and analysis.  This is my process.

trying out materials to understand how I was gonna make connections.

This thesis was written right before and during a pandemic, a pandemic that foretold the story of humans/non-humans assemblages and socio-ecological systems in decay. This thesis does not have a design that solves the Anthropocene. For this thesis, the intention is to unpack and explore the web between embodiment and Landscape Architecture.

There were certain experiences that helped me find better design solutions for this project. As you can tell from above, originally I used a battery pack, but eventually Afroditi would comment on tools that were better suited for e-textiles. It has been a journey to find the right balance of function and beauty, as any designer understands.