“Snail Trail” was an installation that spread across one toilet and one shower room in the University of Reading’s School of Art building. Undulating across the wall and floor, the sugar glass and human hair sculptures mimic the slimy, mucus trails of snails and slugs. The trail emerges from a shower drain and dissolves on the wall in the toilet cubicle; the physical body of the being that left this trace is missing. The trail is a tangible admission of an absence.
“Snail Trail” was part of the Spoon exhibition that took place on Tuesday 18th March 2025.
Originally referencing my experience of polycystic ovary syndrome, particularly the contradictory symptoms of excessive hair growth (for example on the navel) and thinning hair, “Snail Trail” investigates our secretions and trails we leave behind.
“Snail Trail” also explores other clashes such as food in the bathroom; an intimate area within a public space; and the interior, built “human” environment compared to the exterior, elemental “non-human” environment.
Follow the Trail
Video documentation of the installation
Video documentation of the installation