Toxic Semantics

Toxic Semantics is a research-driven design project that investigates the sociopolitical construction of hallucinogenic plant identities. Through coding-based visual experiments, interactive zines, and exhibition staging, the work reveals how the “psychoactive” properties of plants are not biologically fixed, but shaped by systems of medicine, law, spirituality, and cultural narrative. By transforming data, plant morphology, and language into sensory experiences, the project invites audiences to recognize classification as a fluid social act rather than a neutral scientific truth.