“When I enter the forest in spring, while all trees are at the brink of unfurling their leaves to become active again in the process of photosynthesis, I have to think of the energy that is being transformed and how all the sugar (glucose) on this planet and all the sugar that I have ever eaten ‘was first made within a leaf’ (Hope Jahren, 2017).
This all started more than a billion years ago when an anaerobic bacterium (prokaryote) attempted to eat a free-living photosynthetic bacterial cell, but was unable to digest it completely. The bacteria, integrated into the plant's metabolism, transformed into chloroplasts housing chlorophyll. This is how plants evolved. In her ‘Endosymbiosis Theory’, the microbiologist Lynn Margulis explains that photosynthetic chloroplasts are the product of a symbiosis. To her not only competition and the survival of the fittest, but also entanglement and fusing are important processes in evolution. In her words ‘the tree of life is growing back on in itself’ (Lynn Margulis, 1998).
What can we learn from photosynthesis? I would like to find out how we can make photosynthesis tangible and learn how it tastes. How is sugar / energy being passed on within the ecosystem? How is everything that heterotrophs eat interconnected? What is a leaf and how does it work? This involves exploring the tastes of various plants and understanding the interconnectedness of organisms.
I approach this project with respect for natural resources, following the indigenous principle of the ‘honorable harvest’. I want to look at the impact of human activities, like burning fossilized plants, on the planet's ecosystem. The central theme of my project is entanglement and fusion, emphasizing collaboration and interaction among participants.”
- Eva-Fiore Kovacovsky
