Sweet Blood in Stagnant Waters draws inspiration from science-fiction, fantasy and body horror, focusing on the figure of the mosquito. Classified as an ‘uncharismatic’ species, the mosquito is commonly referred to as the most dangerous animal due to its ability to host and transmit infectious disease.

Three cyborg protagonists, Cookie, Zero, and Mary, referred to as Angels, have left Earth to make a new home on a Proxy Planet in pursuit of a familial life together. They are haunted by Baby, Mary’s unborn mosquito-human child, who follows them through fragmented landscapes with histories colonization, industry, and resource extraction across the Netherlands and Belgium–the first Dutch cement factory warehouse and chemistry lab, the verdant, botanical gardens and archives at Plantentuin Meise, and a limestone cave complex.

Dao’s work engages themes of mortality, family, queer ecology, surveillance, epidemic imaginaries, colonial medicine, and human entanglement with nature. Sweet Blood in Stagnant Waters questions whose bodies are considered dangerous, parasitic, and disobedient.