The project centers on Giant Reeds ‘Qasab’ (Arundo donax) and the vernacular practice of harvesting them according to lunar cycles. It marks a deepening of the artist’s engagement with this local plant, often dismissed as an invasive species, reframing it instead as a carrier of knowledge, craft, and soft infrastructural potential. Through embodied, non-scientific understandings, the moon is approached as materially influential, shaping the moisture, density, and strength of plant fibers.
The work unfolds across three scales:
QSB-01
(Reed, Chrome Pipe, Pencil on paper)
A small sculptural object juxtaposes the reed material with metal, examining processes of material strengthening through a symbolic silvering by the moon.
(Japanese ink on board)
A graphic panel depicts the phases of the moon and their perceived effects on plant fibers; these are executed using a traditional reed pen, historically employed in Arabic calligraphy, allowing the plant to become both subject and tool.
QSB-03
(Reed, Tubular Steel Pipe, Nylon cord)
A sculptural installation of reeds and tubular pipe held together in a tensegrity structure connected together with a seemingly invisible thread that recalls such invisible connections in nature.
Together, the works trace how lunar cycles, plant matter, and human interaction converge, making visible the subtle infrastructures that bind cosmic cycles to everyday material practices.
QSB presented as part of and won FEĠĠ x ARTI 2026, this project is developed through Assemblies of Becoming and exhibited in Soft Infrastructures, led and curated by Elyse Tonna (@elysetonna). It is a collaborative initiative between Spazju Kreattiv (@spazjukreattiv) and Aġenzija Żgħażagħ (@agenzijazghazagh)