The idea for One of Our Fossils comes from a scientific paper. It predicts that humanity’s most lasting remnants will be plastic, nuclear waste, and chicken bones. I chose chicken bones for their absurdity, and because they represent a world obsessed with making everything cheaper and faster. The exhibition imagines how future civilisations might interpret these bones. It speculates on the myths and stories they might create from them.

It is absurd that, despite our power and ability to foresee the future, our attention span and sense of ‘now’ have rapidly narrowed. One might expect that more foresight would grant a longer view of time. Instead, it is as if we are mentally exhausted from dealing with the present, leaving us with no energy to imagine the future.

One of Our Fossils responds to that condition. It presents a space to reflect and have feelings about the deep future. The bones serve as a starting point to consider what kind of world we will leave behind and how future civilizations might try to make sense of it. It’s an invitation to consider both what we are now and what we are becoming.