Siphonophora

Thomas Glassford's sculptures, large-scale installations, and public projects explore the intersections of art, design, architecture, community, and the natural world. First installed at the University Museum El Chopo, part of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Siphonophora is inspired by the giant ocean creatures of the same name that appear to be single organisms, but are instead interdependent communities of different animals, each with different functions that allow the organism to flourish. For this work, individual concrete and plaster sculptures based on forms found in nature have been painted white and strung together, merging into one enormous floating colony. The work, like the ocean organism, serves as a metaphor for our interdependence with the natural world and, by extension, our ecological survival.