i shall rise and so will you / gutfeelings

Delta van Melle’s practice takes its starting point from materials that offer resistance. Through processes of fermentation, growth and ageing—which Delta initiates but never fully controls—the artist explores how queer and marginalised bodies cope with boundaries they have not chosen for themselves. Just like these materials, bodies bear traces of adaptation: scars, tears and signs of ageing, resulting from a constant interplay between constraint and scope for action.

Kombucha SCOBYs and fermentation form the core of the work. Their rhythm of absorption, processing and transformation also mirrors Delta’s own neurodivergent ways of thinking and appearing. The artist’s role here is one of conscious surrender: observing, learning by doing and following the material, rather than subjecting it to a predetermined concept.
*I Shall Rise and So Will You / gutfeelings* is a living installation centred on growth, pressure and limitation. In glass containers, SCOBYs transform sugars into new material and gas. Sensors translate these processes into sound, making a usually invisible world audible. Light, sound and living matter together form an ever-changing ecosystem.

The installation draws parallels between microbial processes and the way bodies move within systems not designed for them. It invites visitors to slow down and pay attention, and creates space for reflection on adaptation, resilience and collective growth.