“Before Your Very Eyes” documents how bacterial communities interact between one another within a set of environments that are differentiated by water, in order to sustain life. Conceptualised during the lockdown period in 2020, the project seeks to reflect the relationship between varying ‘classification’ of water towards bacterial communities. The project asks : “While the pandemic treats us all the same, who decides on what differentiates one human being to another?”

Each day, each class of water interacts and creates an environment unique to their own responses, or rather reactions. The type of water ranges from its source - pond, rain and the sorts of water we consume, from the common Spritzer to what we consider as ‘luxury’ water such as Evian. The variation represents the layerings of our social strata along with the privileges and conditioning it allows for; a reality we have been witnessing and living with as a community throughout this pandemic.

Using Winogradsky columns as a method, each column is filled with 3 symbolic constants; soil (members of society), egg (social construct) and newspaper (media). Water is the only variable. As a vital resource, the innocence and purity of water demonstrates the varying level of accessibility and conditioning within our community. From weeks to months, layers of colours are naturally created, saturating and disintegrating - illustrating the nuances of colour from one bacterial community to another.

Like a community, there are lines that divide us, whether geographically, economically, or as minute as ordinary bias in our everyday lives. The project proposes a way of looking at the community, as these waters will tell - what is not visible may still very well exist.