Gut feelings and interoceptive touch

My own intestinal and emotional sensitivity has led me to my ongoing research project Gut Feelings. I began by working with the symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeasts (SCOBY) of kombucha tea, the cellulose pellicle that grows on top fermenting it at home because the drink has helped to settle and regulate my digestion. I wonder, how does my consumption of the microorganisms within, the bacteria and yeasts, affect my consciousness and myself as a more-than-human assemblage? At the same time, I am drawn to the way the SCOBY looks, smells and feels. Within this research project I have been working with kombucha SCOBYs, intestines, and more recently, compost worms. These all share material, affective, and aesthetic qualities in ways that relate to touch: they are viscous (not quite liquid or solid), slimy and squishy. They also involve multi-species symbioses and are deeply entangled with the processes of fermentation and decomposition. Later in the project, contamination by mould and other microorganisms entered as an additional entity. In this essay, I approach my project Gut Feelings through ideas of interoceptive touch. Interoception is the sense of the internal state of the body. How can we experience touch within our bodies, and specifically within the gut?