Etched steel and thread, 67 x 31.5 in each 

The letters abbreviating nucleotides, A, C, G, T, that map the DNA sequence are individually etched on metal squares. Drawn from a neural (homeobox) sequence the squares are sewn into grids shaped like armor. This work explores a shift in biological science from a mechanical model of blood and guts to one based on communication. Linking knowledge, language and war, for this project the artist worked in a genetic lab, examining microscopic DNA (which looks like spaghetti) and followed its rendering into a string of letters. Focusing on this process of abstracting "the invisible life of life" by first reduction and then recombination, gene splicing is related to film splicing - making the body conform to the economy of the film strip - an animate narrative of inanimate parts - neither porous nor messy. The sequence sewing is ongoing, in pairs, and will be comprised of 20 forms once completed. The artist chose to work with a homeobox sequence (found in humans and animals) as it is a regulator - a sequence that exists solely to inform other parts of the code when to switch on and off.