This artwork explores the epigenetic impact of violence, conflict and famine with a focus on intergenerational trauma, and food as a form of comfort during times of conflict, in the context of “postmemory”.
The team comprising Anna Dumitriu, Professor of War and Society, Rachel Kerr, and curator Cécile Bourne-Farrell from the Department of War Studies at Kings College London, and Professor Maria-Elena Torres-Padilla from the Institute of Epigenetics and Stem Cells at the Helmholtz Zentrum in Munich were inspired by research into what is known as the Dutch Hunger Winter cohort.
The Dutch Hunger Winter was a famine brought about by the Nazi’s who blockaded food supplies in the Netherlands in 1944 as a punishment for railway workers strikes aimed at preventing the movement of Nazi troops. Over 18,000 citizens died of starvation during this harsh winter that froze the canals. Many more suffered greatly from malnutrition, forced to eat tulip bulbs, grass, sugar beet and chicory root and worse to survive. Children would carry spoons with them in case they would find someone offering soup or bean stew. The blockade finally ended in March 1945 when ships brought Swedish flour (enough for half a loaf for every Dutch citizen) and Lancaster bombers dropped food parcels in sacks.
It has been shown that the children of women in the first trimester of pregnancy during the famine have higher levels of obesity and diabetes, and a have a higher mortality rate though their weights at birth appeared normal. Certain genes (including the PIM3 gene) were impacted in these children’s DNA potentially affecting their metabolisms. The prevalence and use of famine as a weapon of war in current conflicts makes these findings all the more significant.
How many babies being born today in areas of conflict will be similarly damaged? How many of us carry these epigenetic scars?
In their exploratory research, the team investigated the potential linkages and parallels between physical responses to trauma, in the form of epigenetics, and what we know about psychological responses, in particular the concept of “postmemory”.
“Postmemory describes the relationship that the “generation after” bears to the personal, collective, and cultural trauma of those who came before-to experiences they “remember” only by means of the stories, images, and behaviours among which they grew up” (Hirsch).
Anna Dumitriu has developed a sculpture exploring epigenetic mutation through the symbolic form of the tulip (the flower, plant, bulb and root) creating a monstrous yet beautiful object that forms the heart of the installation. At the heart of the tulip flower is a model of a foetus in the first trimester. This model is impregnated with the DNA of the PIM3 gene, and surrounded by objects that further speak to the project learning including images of the gene.
Professor Maria Elena Torres-Padilla, Head of the Institute of Epigenetics and Stem Cells at the Helmholtz Zentrum in Munich, Germany is the project’s scientific advisor, and this work builds on learning from their “Mutability of Memories and Fates” project. Jose Bautista, also from the Institute of Epigenetics and Stem Cells, collaborated on the project by producing the PIM3 gene by PCR.
The project initially received seed funding from Kings College London’s Sanctuary Season.
Exhibitions
A 3D printed prototype which fused the forms of a spoon and tulip petal and bulb was exhibited in September and October 2024 as part of her solo exhibition “The Mutability of Memories and Fates” at Alt Saline Hallein in Austria in collaboration with Schmeide and subnet.
“Manna: Epigenetics, Conflict and Intergenerational Trauma” premieres as part of Calorie at the Science Gallery Bengaluru in India, from August 2025.
Workshops
Workshop at Alt Saline Hallein, Austria
Anna Dumitriu led a workshop on September 6th 2024 at Alt Saline Hallein in Austria where participants worked with the artist to explore her artistic approach of weaving together cultural narratives, historical events, and cutting-edge scientific knowledge with sculpture and biomaterials in this hands-on workshop. The workshop was based on the project “Manna: Epigenetics, International Trauma and Postmemory”, a prototype of which was shown in the exhibition. Manna explores the epigenetic impact of violence, conflict, and famine with a focus on intergenerational trauma, and food as a form of comfort during times of conflict, in the context of “postmemory”.
In the workshop participants created and cast moulds taken from 3D printed forms based on first trimester foetuses, and participants made biomaterials from Swedish flour, tulip bulbs, chicory, sugar from sugar beets while discussing Dumitriu’s research process and how she constructs her artistic storytelling. Anna Dumitriu introduced the scientific background of epigenetics in an accessible way and talked about the Dutch Hunger Winter, and how memories are past down through generations. More information here.
Workshop at Science Gallery Bengaluru in India
Anna Dumitriu led a workshop as part of the programme for the exhibition Calorie at the Science Gallery Bengaluru in India at 11am on 19th July 2024. In the workshop participants will create and cast moulds and work with materials eaten during times of famine, and discuss Dumitriu’s research process and how she constructs her artistic storytelling. Anna Dumitriu will introduce the scientific background of epigenetics in an accessible way and talk about the Dutch Hunger Winter, and how memories are passed down through generations. Discussion will also explore the impacts of weaponised famine during the colonial period in India through working will local foodstuffs.
Publications
Manna: Epigenetics, Conflict and Intergenerational Trauma is featured in “Science Gallery Bengaluru’s ‘Calorie exhibition looks at food, memory & politics” in The Print by Ananthapathmanabhan, India, August 2025
“Epigenetics and Intergenerational Trauma: An Interdisciplinary Exploration of the Afterlives of Famine in War” by Rachel Kerr and Anna Dumitriu in Leonardo Journal 59.2: Conflict as Catalyst (forthcoming)