Inês Neto dos Santos: Fermentation as Artistic Medium and Social Critique

Inês Neto dos Santos, a Lisbon-born artist born in 1992, incorporates fermentation into her artistic practice, crafting 'culinary spaces' through workshops, edible installations, and interactive objects. Her approach critiques patriarchal structures and emphasizes the interconnectedness between humans and nature. Utilizing vivid colors and flavors, such as rose kombucha and sage smoked butter, her creations convey socio-political messages. Originally a technique for food preservation, fermentation has become a means to prolong transient art. She perceives it as a metaphor for collaboration among microorganisms, humans, and their environment, highlighting that humans possess ten times more bacterial cells than their own. Her project 'Tender Touches' turned a gallery into an artist-operated bar, while her recent piece features a jacket made of dried sourdough patches, representing life and history.