Jordan Sommerlad’s “Chemicals” turns an ordinary day into a question about what we cannot see. Its premise begins with the hazardous substances present in things as familiar as food and air, then moves toward the fear that exposure to them may have consequences that only appear much later. The title names the problem without giving it a safe distance.
That uncertainty sits at the center, because eating and breathing are unavoidable, but the substances around those acts can carry risks that are difficult to measure from everyday experience. The concern is the possibility that something already surrounding us could return years later. “Chemicals” leaves that fear in the ordinary world where it begins. We eat, we breathe, and the question of what those things contain remains.
