Recorded live during the Art Papers Symposium in Atlanta, Duncan MacKenzie and Brian Andrews sit down with artist Emily Llamazales to talk speculative biology, adaptive futures, and sculptural ecosystems that feel equal parts laboratory experiment and sci-fi relic.

Emily's work merges biochemistry, ecology, and material experimentation into immersive sculptural forms that hover between organism and artifact. From translucent photo-printed fabrics to ceramic "creatures" built from invasive species logic, her practice imagines a world where mutation is survival and adaptation is aesthetic strategy.

The conversation ranges from collaborative exhibition-making and studio ecology to invasive snails, granite outcrops, and the porous boundary between science fiction and real science. Along the way: holography, grant writing, fungi, and the possibility that the future might already be quietly evolving around us.

Name Drops (with links)

Emily Llamazales - https://www.emilyllamazales.com/
Duncan MacKenzie — https://kurasmackenzie.com/
Brian Andrews — https://www.brianandrews.org/
Jacob O'Kelly — (curator, Swan Coach House Gallery, Atlanta) https://www.artsatl.org/mint-names-new-executive-director-gallery-director-opens-four-shows/
Ben Steele — https://bensteeleart.com/
Aaron Putt — https://aaronkaganputt.com/
Burnaway — https://burnaway.org/
Art Papers — https://www.artpapers.org/
Clio Art Fair / Clio (Savannah project space) — https://www.clioartfair.com/
Arts Capital Atlanta — https://www.artscapitalatlanta.org/
Arabia Mountain — https://arabiaalliance.org/
Ichetucknee Springs — https://www.floridastateparks.org/parks-and-trails/ichetucknee-springs-state-park
Suwannee River — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suwannee_River
Apple Snail (invasive species) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_snail
Dyssodia / "diamorpha" plants (granite outcrop flora) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyssodia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedum_smallii
Scavengers Reign (TV series) — https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21056886/
Futurama — https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0149460/
Adrian Tchaikovsky — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Tchaikovsky