Candice Lin | Plant Hormones and Their Possible Uses

In the second half of her residency, Lin collaborated with artist Patrick Staff. Together, they investigated the hormonal properties of plants and their synthesis within the human body in a public workshop. Their research concerned phyto-hormones with which they made a variety of substances including a natural testosterone salve harvested from local pine pollen and sculptural works that formed the basis for a film set, within which the artists documented performative actions regarding the ingestion and constitution of such substances.

Lin’s and Staff’s collaboration incorporated foraging and herbal medicine to examine the intersections of technologies of the body, bio-political subjectivity, and contemporary formulations of gender and sexuality, which also formed the basis of Lin’s other plant-based research project in the Artist Lab.

Participants were led through the process of herbal 101: making tea and herbal smoke blends, decoctions, tinctures and salves. We also had the opportunity to discuss their uses and try ingesting some of these creations.

Candice Lin’s Artist Lab Residency at 18th Street Arts Center was generously supported by the California Community Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.