A very long time ago,life must have begun with a single microscopic organism: LUCA, the Last Universal Common Ancestor. Over billions of years of evolution, humans eventually emerged from this single being — as did, much earlier, the microbes, plants, and other animals that came before us. LUCA reminds us that we, and all other forms of life, share a common origin and remain inextricably linked.

This project took shape during Mariëlle Videler's residency at the Drawing Centre in 2024. There, she started a series of drawings titled The Spell of the Sensuous, named after the book by David Abram. The series explores the animistic dimension of perception — the sense that the world around us is alive and sentient — while still making room for intellectual analysis. 

“Looking at my drawings, I grew curious whether I could shape a large 'microbe' out of that world. I found a way to give textile a three-dimensional form, layering linocut, embroidery thread, and raffia. Now you can walk beneath my drawings, as though moving through a magnified, microscopic reality.”