Mycologia


This series of sculptures explores mycology, from my postgraduate project exploring its connection to queerness, neurodiveristy and evolution. Fungi are important to our ecosystems, decomposing dead or dying matter in the forest and returning nutrients to the soil to pave the way for new life. Mycorrhizal fungi connect trees and allow them to send messages to one another and share nutrients. The sculptures are a modern interpretation of the monolithic sites built by our ancestors
to worship nature, made using organic waste and mycelium. The fungi are collaborators in the pieces, highlighting our need to work with nature and see ourselves as nature again, rather than separate from and above it. Prehistoric art shows fungi have been worshipped by our ancestors for thousands of years, and evidence shows we've evolved symbiotically with fungi.




Early animist religions, and later pagans, used shamanism and monolithic sites to worship fungi and nature. Today we are confronted with a mushroom renaissance, with modern science showing the significance of fungi that our ancestors and indigenous people recognised, though this knowledge and awe were largely lost due to colonisation. This work examines how by elevating and listening to marginalised voices (specifically indigenous, queer and neurodivergent) we can reframe and reconsider our existence as a species, and learn to exist harmoniously with each other and our planet.


                       
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contact@kateshorey.com