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In the installation May My Roots Crack You Open (2025), Tara-Eva Kuijpers Wentink (1996) is introducing a new organ named lightseed. This organ is attached to the inferior vena cava, the artery that runs between the liver and the heart. Lightseed is shaped like a pouch, sprouting out into roots, flabby masses, and thorns. Just like most organisms, it does not look particularly friendly or charming. Its function, however, is transforming stress and trauma into energy and empathy.
The work is based on a speculative work of fiction by Kuijpers Wentink in which she describes how the human body developed lightseed in response to the stress, confusion, and exhaustion caused by contemporary life. According to the artist, these phenomena not only have a negative impact on humanity, but also on the planet. Lightseed, therefore, not only aids individual bodies, but also contributes to healing the world as a whole. Or was the sudden evolution of this mysterious organ caused by something else and more suspicious?
The ceramic and textile installations of Kuijpers Wentink evoke a world that looks strange and terrifying, but simultaneously safe and familiar. Her visual language, with organic shapes and colours, is loosely based on the human anatomy and that of other organic lifeforms, including plants. Kuijpers Wentink is fascinated by the body because it connects us to nature and other human beings. On the inside our bodies all look largely the same. But as our organs, and the rest of our bodies’ interior, often remain hidden from view, they are also imbued with a sense of mystery.
Text: Sarah van Binsbergen
Translated from Dutch by Marie Louise Schoondergang (The Art of Translation)