MAGNA MATER

In episode two, Magna Mater shows up in the city. She wants to know: how are we actually living in these bodies of breath, nerves, and wonder? She observes with care, trying to understand how humans use the vast spectrum of senses and abilities that lie within them. How do we relate to our bodies in a time shaped by acceleration, abstraction, and disconnection? How easy it is to forget that we are not just using our bodies—we are our bodies: made of water, organic molecules, minerals and synapses, shaped by gravity and the nature of our environment. When was the last time you truly marveled at your own vitality? At the simple, staggering fact of being alive? And do you remember that this vitality depends not on an algorithm or a programmed superintelligence, but on a thriving, living biosphere?

The role of storytelling

Scientific research shows that storytelling is a powerful way to engage with complexity. It activates more cognitive and emotional regions of the brain than facts alone, fostering empathy, memory retention, and reflection. This project explores how visual storytelling can support ecological literacy and systems thinking by translating abstract challenges into emotionally resonant, visually accessible narratives.

What’s next?

In Episode 3, the Magna Mater encounters a strange architecture of human invention: the economy. Here, she finds a world where some labors are weighed and measured in coin, while the labors of the earth—her labors—go unnoticed, uncounted, and unrewarded. The rivers clean themselves, the bees pollinate, the soil renews, and no ledger records the value. She pauses, troubled, asking not only why the breath of the forest is deemed worthless, but also what such blindness costs the soul of a people who no longer recognize the generosity of the world they stand upon.