Poison Apple

2021

Can an apple, the central focus of one of the most popular English idioms about health: ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’, so seemingly benign, actually be capable of taking a life?

September - December 2021
Design Academy Eindhoven

In my project, Poison Apple, I recontextualise the apple from an object of comfort and health to one that is fear-inducing by proposing an end-of-life scenario in which the lethal nature of the apple is exposed. It is calculated that if a person of roughly 65 kg were to eat 200 apple seeds—the equivalent of 40 apples over a 24 hour time period that they would most likely die from cyanide poisoning. The toxicity of apple seeds results from the very small amounts of a compound called amygdalin that they contain. When the amygdalin comes into contact with the enzymes found in the small intestine, it converts into cyanide, a deadly chemical that has been used for mass suicide and warfare.

The installation itself consists of a lethal apple—one that contains 200 apple seeds—and an accompanying narrative. The narrative, told from the perspective of an unknown person, describes this person’s experience dealing with life after a close male-figure decides to terminate his life by eating the lethal apple. It is unclear what the man is suffering from, but we get the sense that he is at peace with his decision.