Fern blossom ֍✧

Fern blossom ֍✧ project

Simulation was inspired by a video featuring astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who suggested that during cremation, human particles are released into space through infrared radiation. In response, someone suggested that our final ethical act could instead be returning our used molecules to the Earth’s flora and fauna.

Reflecting on how current burial practices remain ecologically harmful, while tree burials still feel distant or legally uncertain, I wanted to symbolically invite such alternatives into being. I chose the fern, plant closely tied to the forest floor, where life and decay coexist. The mythical fern blossom, known in Baltic folklore as a rare and magical flower, becomes here a poetic symbol of return to the Earth.

Technical: made with Houdini​​​​​​​, particle simulation set-up from Steven Knipping's Applied Houdini Particles series.