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Title of the thesis: Colours from living lands: A multi-sited ethnography of human–environment relationships in bio-based dyeing practices 

Thesis defender: Leonardo Hidalgo Uribe 
Opponent: Prof. Jessica Hemmings, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Custos: Prof. Kirsi Niinimäki, Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture

Synthetic dyes have expanded colour options beyond geographical and seasonal limits, but their environmental impacts raise urgent questions about how colours are produced and at what cost. While bio-based dyes provide alternatives, dominant production paradigms prioritise control and efficiency over the dynamic ecological conditions from which colours emerge. For this reason, accelerated and extractive design approaches still pose threats to local ecosystems. 

Colours from Living Lands rethinks textile colour and dyeing through the lens of human–environment relations. It approaches dyeing as an entanglement involving practitioners, organisms, materials, and the ecological conditions that shape and are shaped by their interactions. Grounded in ecological anthropology and relational approaches to design, the research explores the idea of making-with the environment and asks: What human–environment relations are involved in dyeing practices that use biocolourants, and how do they influence textile colour and dyeing? 

The work addresses this question through a combination of ethnography and practice-led research. Ethnographic inquiry explores diverse ways of living and understanding the worlds we inhabit, while practice-led research draws insights from reflective making and artistic expression. In this work, I approached dyeing and colour across three geographies by becoming an apprentice to local practices, working with dyers in their workshops and on the lands they inhabit. 

This study takes the form of an itinerant colour library comprising three site-specific material and audiovisual collections, developed through land-based dyeing practices in Southern Finland, the Northwest Amazon, and Southern Japan. Walking, foraging, cultivating, and reflective making become central to understanding how colour develops, foregrounding embodied engagement, ecological rhythms, and ongoing responsiveness to materials and environmental conditions. 

Colours from Living Lands proposes a framework for future colour practices that encompasses embodied experiences, temporal diversity, and adaptive practices. By situating colour within specific territories and lifeworlds, the project offers designers, artists, and local communities tools to imagine more sustainable and caring relationships with materials and ecosystems, thereby contributing to colour practices that support environmental regeneration, cultural resilience, and diverse ways of inhabiting and working with land.

Keywords: biocolours, human–environment relations, movement, temporality, improvisation, multi-sited ethnography

Thesis available for public display 7 days prior to the defence at . 

Contact information: 

Email address: leonardo.hidalgouribe@aalto.fi 
Phone number: +358 442443191
Instagram: @leohidalgo_