Mood Board
My personal body of art and design work addresses the human as an animal. My paintings and zoo designs seek to create a bond between the human viewer and the nonhuman viewee such that the differences, as well as the power dynamic, between the viewer and viewee are diminished. In emphasizing the likeness between humans and nonhuman animals, it is often easiest to use other primates, or other mammals, or other vertebrates. Humans belong to all three of these groups, and thus, by definition, we share at least some characteristics with all species of these groups. With primates, for example, we all have hands; with mammals, we all lactate; with vertebrates, we all have backbones. Finding commonalities with classifications that we do not belong to, however, is more difficult.
Invertebrates are an example of group to which humans do not belong. Many invertebrates have exoskeletons, which humans, of course, do not have. However, many animals with exoskeletons have structures that resemble human, or mammalian, hair. This was the focus of my exoskeleton research, as I wanted to make a design that could, again, emphasize a commonality between humans and animals as distantly related as invertebrates.
In my research, I found an article that discusses the hair like structures on exoskeletons, called setae (Dessy). As the article states, setae are generally used by insects and other arthropods (animals with exoskeletons) as sensors. Long setae can be used as tactility receptors, so they allow for the sensation of touch, much like human hair does. Setae can also be used for other senses such as taste receptors, smell, receptors, and temperature receptors, each with a slightly different structure. Setae can also be specialized. Some extreme cases of specialized setae are chemical weaponry and structures that enable their wearers to walk upside down or own water.
Some examples listed by the article of arthropods that use setae for tactile functions are butterflies, moths, grasshoppers, locusts, and caterpillars. Some caterpillars also have setae that are toxic, which prevents them from being consumed by predators or parasites. Many spiders have a specialized type of tactile setae that allow for proprioception, or the knowledge of where their own parts of their body are at all times. This allows for greatly increased agility in spiders, allowing them to be more formidable predators. Spiders, or New World Tarantulas, also have one more unique use for setae: urticating hair.
In my research, I also found an article on a human hair mechanism, goosebumps (Bubenik). As the article states, goosebumps are a vestigial mechanism that can be triggered by multiple types of stimuli for various reasons. For example, goosebumps are triggered by the cold so that our hair can trap in our heat and insulate us, which would still function if humans never lost our dense body hair. Likewise, goosebumps an be triggered when humans are frightened. Again, before we lost our hair, this would have been an effective strategy for making us appear larger and more intimidating to whatever stimulus triggered the frightened response. This is very similar to the tarantulas use of hair. However, instead of simply raising their hair, they flick it in order to deter the frightening stimulus. This similar use of hair between humans and tarantulas is especially intriguing to me and is a concept I hope to draw from in my final design for this project.
Works Cited
Bubenik, George A. “Why Do Humans Get ‘Goosebumps’ When They Are Cold, or under Other Circumstances?” Scientific American, 1 Sept. 2003, www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-do-humans-get-goosebu/.
Dessy, Ray. “’Hairy’ Insects and Spiders.” Micscape Microscopy and Microscope Magazine, Jan. 2009, www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/indexmag.html?http%3A%2F%2Fwww.microscopy-uk.org.uk%2Fmag%2Fartjan09%2Frd-hairs.html.
Design Proposal
I am planning on creating a wearable that focuses on emphasizing hair. As I explained above in my research paper, I am interested in the similarity between humans and other animals. In creating a wearable that has hair, it will resemble both an unshaven human body and a blown-up arthropod exoskeleton with setae.
Thumbnail Sketches
Iteration 1
Iteration 2
Iteration 3
