Cykofa: The Seeda Origin Story 2022

Created by Ayana Zaire Cotton

A parallel universe suspended among past and future where cornrows are cryptography keys, data farms are data forests and chain link fencing from demolished prisons are used as architectural membrane woven with plant life, in Cykofa the trees have learned to communicate using the data Cykofians have encoded in the tree’s DNA and tree ring memory. Cykofa: The Seeda Origin Story is a nonlinear novella written in collaboration with software developed by the author. Part love letter, part algorithmically generated poetry, the story is told through the journal entries of a non-binary biotechnologist named Seeda and the found data within an ancient bald cypress tree named Cy. What happens when Seeda discovers a rip in the dendrochronological memory, exposing select datasets from our world?

Published by Seeda Press in 2022

The book features a risograph printed cover and alternating vellum sheets creating three narratives in one book: Seeda’s Journal Entries, Cy’s Narration, and both read together.