Porgies, a regional finfish, are caught in the millions off the coast of Rhode Island and are integral parts of various New England communities’ food and culture. This image, a subsection of a porgy vertebra harvested in July 2023, was taken on a scanning electron microscope at the RISD Nature Lab. Note the gray forms that tendril across the sample: they are a fungal organism—a new life form exposed under the microscope growing across the bones, undetected in my studio, in the months between processing the porgy and desiccation for microscopy. The decomposers act, slowly, invisibly siphoning and degrading toward oblivion. Until, new growth. And peering into machines beyond my understanding: wonder. What can these systems and cycles of extraction, harvest, or decomposition tell us?

Read about Chivers’ senior thesis exhibition at Brown.