Supernatural 6

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

Mushrooms will save the world. A bold statement to make about a fungus but perhaps nothing creates a through line from prehistoric times to our collective future like this multifaceted organism. They are more than super – they are Supernatural.

Fungi is both the creator (composer) and decomposer of life, nature’s survivor and thriver. As the entire globe and all its citizens depend on forest systems to supply oxygen, the forest systems depend on the “mycelium fungal net- works” (Paul Stamets) that connect them. Mushrooms symbiotically operate as a super organism, an interconnect- ed species that helps shape the evolutionary trajectory of plant life. Fungi recycle and nourish the botany world by decomposing and depositing nutrients. Without mycelium, ecosystems would fail.

The term ‘magic mushrooms’ is prevalent in counter culture vocabulary but even those who site it are underesti- mating how truly magical, and inspirational, mushrooms are. While some are psychedelic and have been used by Indigenous populations in ceremony for millennia, all mushrooms are truly magical. And for me, inspirational. They inspired me to combine storytelling with art. There is no better natural, magical high than the feeling of awe, won- der, discovery and learning when working with something new for the first time!

In my latest series, Supernatural, mushrooms were both muse and metaphor. Their sculptural beauty wasn’t the only thing to capture my interest: these otherworldly organisms have many layers beneath their surface.

As I continue to explore the relationship between three-dimensional sculpture and two-dimensional photography, both the beauty and fragility of the mushrooms I worked with emphasized some greater truths and created some big questions about our collective future and the role we play to preserve it.

As the world has pivoted to country-centric and self-interested values, the symbiotic, connected efforts of fungal networks represent an example of both the mission and method to embrace: the necessity to course-correct and intervene to ensure the health of the natural systems we rely on. Can we apply a more intimate narrative to how we can connect and be more aware of how our social contributions can be opened to ecology & its profound wisdom? Can we re-define our society’s conditioned value systems and become more symbiotically connected rather than blindsided by the convenience of disconnection and extraction that harms rather than heals? If Fungi can make and unmake worlds - can we do the same? Can we unmake what we have done and create new networks of survival?

Alongside the value of their message is the beauty in these natural abstract forms. For this series, I have manipu- lated the undulating fungi in their most floral forms into new compositions, create an exploration of beauty while emphasizing the critical example mushrooms provide to those of us who gaze upon the natural world.

I believe Fungi have the power to change the way we think. I hope the Supernatural series not only beautifies your spaces but creates a landscape of curiosity and discovery for you too. Do you believe in magic?! Are you curious enough to join in this pilgrimage with me?