Lichen is a fungi that lives together with algae or bacteria and can be found on trees, rocks and stones. Without each other these organismes can’t survive: mutualistic symbiosis. The chameleon perfectly blends in with the lichen due to their similar appearance. Thanks to this the chameleon stays invisible for its prey and its predators. The lichen is not harmed at all while the chameleon benefits from it: commensalistic symbiosis.

The Art of Living Together is my ongoing series of tapestries that translate my passion for the natural phenomenon of symbiosis* in evolution. My inspiration was ignited when traveling in Angola and South Africa, where I started researching the fascinating intermingling between different species within their development. The interaction amidst these seemingly opposite forces is emphasized through the correlation of the geometric and the organic, the abstract and the detailed, the digital and the tactile, the East and the West, the North and the South, and the old and the new. When the fragile reciprocity is precisely balanced, these dissimilar worlds smoothly collide, merge and enforce each other.

*Symbiosis is a long-term biological association between two organisms of different species. The organisms, called symbionts, can be either in a mutualistic, a commensalistic, or a parasitic relationship; interactions which can be beneficial, neutral or harmful for either one or both species.