Louise Permiin

Department: Social Design

PEEING, PROCESSING, PRODUCING

WHAT
A travelling archive and workshop visualising a range of textiles coloured with urine. The aim is to create a closer relationship between our daily behaviour, our bodies and the environment.

WOW
Urine has long been used as a natural fixative to dye textiles because of its ammonia content. Now Louise Permiin uses urine-based textile dyes to reveal societal information.

HOW
The colour of our urine is a daily record of the food, medicines and chemicals we consume. Some effects are plainly visible. Others, like Bisphenol A — a substance in plastics, cans and receipts — only appear after chemical tests. Louise indicates its presence with a blue square on the fabric. Different colours could be used to signify other chemicals.

QUOTE
This private biomaterial is an informative, poetic and rich resource.