Lactobacillus amongus

Lactobacillus Amongus was a show about sourdough starters, the microbes that populate them, and the people that cultivate them. For Lactobacillus Amongus, S.E. Nash solicited submissions of Kansas City sourdough starters. Through networking, word of mouth, and a radio interview on NPR, Nash sought a community of bread bakers who are passionate about keeping a mixture of flour and water alive with unique populations of yeasts and bacteria. The starters on view in Lactobacillus Amongus are portraits of the people who bake with them and their constituent microbes. They represent the bakers’ hands, their environments, and their attention to the “pet” that rises their bakes. The starters will be fed every Saturday for the duration of the show.

The sculptures in Lactobacillus Amongus are monuments to and containers for the starters. They are informed by bread scoring patterns, the experience of long fermentation, the baking process, and sourdough microscopy.

Nash received an ArtsKC grant to fund Lactobacillus Amongus.