In Holism, Bryson offers a part of herself in a gesture of reciprocity to the cacti she works with. She transforms her skin using the needles of the cacti that she has embroidered or woven into. For over three hours she poked at her skin with the cactus needles and ink, resulting in a tattoo on each of her shins. The image of the tattoo is a rudimentary drawing of a stoma (pl. stomata), which is the cellular structure responsible for respiration after the process of photosynthesis. The stomata are like microscopic mouths allowing for a gas exchange to take place. Bryson was both offering her skin in an effort of exchange with the cacti, and also recognizing her and the cacti's sameness in the need to breathe. Although plant/human gaseous exchanges are different in molecular makeup, they are dependent upon one another.