Jemma Foster (right) and Camilla French (left) conceived and founded Semantica in Bogotá, Colombia in 2020, as the XR film and creative studio of Wild Alchemy Lab.
Semantica is an XR film and research lab exploring more-than-human intelligence, interspecies communication and non-linear linguistics.
We work directly with the natural world, collaborating with biodata musicians, academics, scientists, researchers and communities pursuing a new paradigm in a future that expresses itself through non-hierarchical, symbiotic, co-creative partnership. Oral storytelling and myth document the relationship between human and non-human, the unseen and seen realms, providing a framework for navigating interspecies relations.
At the synthesis of nature and technology, digital platforms and innovations working with more-than-human intelligence act as mediums for emerging potentials that support the regenerative evolution of the planet.
Jemma Foster is an artist, creative director and filmmaker whose work explores the intersection of more-than-human intelligence and emerging technologies. After an early career in print journalism (The Guardian, The Times, Time Out), short story fiction (The Cardboard Book Project), and scriptwriting and film production for independent directors (Alexander Berberich, Rachel Rosie Seely), she founded experimental botanical studio Mama Xanadu and multi-sensory publishing studio, art collective and curatorial agency Wild Alchemy Lab, producing an augmented-reality printed journal showcasing audio-visual content including short films, music and ritual performances. Jemma is also a multi-disciplinary researcher and practitioner of plant and vibrational medicine and the author of books on sacred geometry (Octopus 2020), alchemy, and astro-herbalism (Laurence King 2023, 2024). She has spent several years researching plant neurobiology, ethnobotany and interspecies communication, recording a range of biodata to create unique soundscapes. Her current research is in ecopsychology, systems thinking and geomancy. She actively campaigns for the agency and rights of plants.
Camilla French is a producer and filmmaker with a background in anthropology currently based in Colombia where she co-founded Bardo Films. She completed a master’s in filmmaking at the London Film School while living in Beijing and spent several years in Asia making documentaries and working as a producer and coordinator on feature films and commercials. Her documentary films have taken a personal look at migrant sex workers in China, the plight of a Uighur musician in Xinjiang, the strict abortion law in El Salvador and land rights in Brazil and have screened at festivals including Womex, Women Make Waves, Indiebo and the ICA. Creative projects include the video work 'A Chinese Home' which was performed by Kronos Quartet and Wu Man at Carnegie Hall, and Ötzi, an Immersive and ritualistic dining experience by TINATA (This is not a Takeaway) and artist Alfonso Borragan. In 2020 she took part in Werner Herzog's La Selva Correa produced with Ficamazonia. Camilla also holds an MSc in social and cultural anthropology from UCL, exploring Tikuna mythology and contemporary myth-telling in the Colombian Amazon.