Zoë Kyn Rehnborg

Instagram: @protozo.e

Website: https://www.protozoe.com/

Statement: My practice is first and foremost an act of attention — a sustained look at microbial worlds we inhabit but rarely notice. Informed by my background in biology, my work explores the ecological and existential dimensions of decay, with a particular focus on microorganisms as agents of transformation in both natural systems and human narratives. I work with organic materials such as soil, mycelium, wood, and beeswax to create sculptural forms that engage with the intertwined processes of decomposition and regeneration. Central to my recent practice is scoby, the biofilm that forms in the fermentation of kombucha. Illuminated from within, my scoby sculptures cast light on the structures and textures of microbial architecture, enabling an encounter with the microbial world not as something invisible or abstract, but as something luminous, intricate, and worthy of reverence. Through sculpture, I explore how biological cycles reframe identity, loss, and interconnectedness across human and more-than-human worlds. In this, fungi and bacteria are my trusted guides and collaborators — simultaneously memento mori and memento vivere, reminders of life's transience and celebrations of its continuity. My practice is a devotional act: a love letter to the microbial world, and an invitation to attend to the unseen systems that shape our lives.