Knowledge is power. Information is a tool. One of the things all colonial forces have in common is limiting the knowledge of natives in order to disarm them. During a month-long residency in Cyprus, Ukrainian artist and biohacker Dariia Dantseva and Cypriot bio-artist Marisa Satsia worked together to create tools for Cypriots to reclaim their history by reclaiming knowledge - conducting their own research on the contamination caused by copper mining to the Island. 

Copper is a chemical element; it has the symbol Cu (from Latin cuprum) and atomic number 29. Copper is an essential trace element in plants and animals, but not all microorganisms. The human body contains copper at a level of about 1.4 to 2.1 mg per kg of body mass.

Because of its role in facilitating iron uptake, copper deficiency and/or toxicity can produce anemia-like symptoms, neutropenia, bone abnormalities, hypopigmentation, impaired growth, increased incidence of infections, osteoporosis, hyperthyroidism, and abnormalities in glucose and cholesterol metabolism.

In nature it’s all about balance. Too little copper can kill you, too much copper will also kill you. The colonial open wounds in the form of abandoned copper mines are bleeding out the copper into the soil, water, sea and are absorbed by the biosphere of Cyprus.

Foreign scientists had two years of research and had analyzed several tons of soil and water using the most cutting-edge tech they could. Their 109-page site investigation and risk assessment concludes with: 

“no significant widespread contamination beyond critical thresholds was found.”

Water is the source of life. We can evaluate the environmental conditions judging by the state of water. So let's take a closer look at the water samples collected from the Lefke and Skouriotissa copper mines.

As a bioartist, Marisa’s aim is to demystify and decolonise scientific knowledge production and to encourage and empower other artists or Cypriots to engage with our own colonial history through citizen science practices.

As an artist and a scientist Dariia studies the way colonial forces utilise and mobilise natural resources against the native population. Copper mining in Cyprus, hydroelectric dams in Ukraine: the colonisation of nature is something that can have the effects that last longer, than the oppressor itself. Something that we will need to take care of for generations.

Marisa and Dariia completed a DIY biology workshop with various groups of citizens focusing on environmental justice and restoration of abandoned copper mines through testing waters from Lefke and Skouriotissa mines. We used readily available water test strips and then proceeded with taking a water sample with a swab and transferring it into the agar nutrient medium Petri dishes. The participants used copper coins [british pennies and European cents] to test how resistant the existing microorganisms in our water samples were to the copper inside the coin and mixing samples from their microbiome (saliva) with the contaminated water samples from the mines. The participants learned how to label their Petri dishes, complete water pH tests, and learned how to test fluids and swab them on Petri dishes. 

(Re)Grounding is a partnership between IZOLYATSIA (Ukraine), D6:EU (Cyprus) and D6: Culture in Transit (UK). 

The programme is supported by: the UK/UA Creative Partnerships programme created by the British Council in partnership with the Ukrainian Institute; European Cultural Foundation; Arts Council England; the Paul Hamlyn Foundation; the Cyprus Department of Contemporary Culture of Deputy Ministry; the Goethe-Institut Zypern; the NewBridge Project; Vsesvit, and EKATE (Cyprus Chamber of Fine Arts).