Allegory of Parasitic Choices
Created By
Yin Yung Sabrina Pun
oil on paper
Curator
Herman Rahman
Sabrina Pun delves into profound questions regarding the human condition, often through the lens of mythology and speculative cosmology. She navigates ideas of tension of tales and absurdity of existence through her work. Her practice consistently challenges anthropocentric perspectives, examining the limits of human control over the microscopic world and the structural absurdity of self-authored catastrophes.
This work considers the micro-world not as antagonist but as a parallel existence, organisms that do not choose but simply persist. It repositions bacteria and viruses within a shared ecology, questioning the anthropocentric impulse to control, eradicate, and dominate. While medicine marks a triumph of human ingenuity, it also reveals an asymmetry: an unseen mass extinction unfolding at a microscopic scale. The persistence of viral life gestures toward the limits of control and mirrors broader ecological imbalance, where humanity itself begins to resemble a parasitic force upon its host. Referencing Asclepius and his serpent, the work imagines a withdrawal, a quiet refusal of the myth of mastery and a reflection on the ongoing insistence to govern even what remains invisible.
Inspired by John Green's bestseller "Anthropocene Reviewed", this is a realisation or 'revelation' between the relationships between humans the be micro-world of bacteria and viruses; Green visualised the response of the pathogens to our attack, how they "do not have a choice": "It just wants to be, like I want to go on..." they are 'geared' to preform such duties, it is not like they 'choose' to invade a specific being. It is us that are jeopardising their existence. On one hand, it is certainly worth celebrating the medical advances by humans in keeping diseases at bay, maintaining the overall welfare of the Anthropos. On the other hand, are we 'mass murdering' the microorganisms? They may be invisible to the naked eye, yet could our control over even the most smallest of species that escape our vision may be causing irreversible effects and be a contributor to their medical resistance. For example, how can the covid virus still persist strongly in our societies despite being weakened considerably? The relationship between humans and the micro-world mirrors humans with its wider surroundings. Just like when too many parasitic pathogens inside one's body and causing the imbalance of the internal system, the overwhelming anthropocentric influence is definitely comparable to parasitic influence over Earth the host. Asclepius and his snake companion, symbols of medical achievement, are so ashamed that they are shying away from the battle between human prowess and the natural order of micro-phage, the "obsession' for the ultimate grip of control; a symbol of how out-of-control and out-of-reality we still are in willing to defy every existence whether real or invisible.
Created By
Yin Yung Sabrina Pun
55 x 42 cm | 22 x 17 in
2025
