In this three-week project for my Master's Design + Change, I explored how non-human beings can take part in the creative process. I collaborated with ants by offering them words I had hand-stitched from pine needles, materials that naturally belong to their environment and form the base of their nests. These five words came from personal reflections written during my first weeks living in Växjö, Sweden.
Working with pine needles created an unexpected sense of care and connection: the material echoed both the forest paths I walked each day and the ants’ own world. By placing the words onto their nests and observing how the ants interacted with them, the outcome became a shared composition shaped by movement, chance, and interspecies encounter.
The resulting three-minute video piece documents this process through observation and a reflective voiceover that considers positionality, collaboration, and the designer's role within natural systems. Inspired by Andy Goldsworthy’s Rivers and Tides, the work follows an eco-art approach, allowing natural processes to guide the form and meaning of the artwork.
My aim was to spark curiosity about what designers might learn from ants and other forest beings, and to challenge the assumption that humans must always be the makers in control, inviting viewers to see nature not just as a site of inspiration, but as an active creative partner.
calm - change - wave - path - one