Mycelium & Symbiosis Series,
Mycelium are a series of small, A5 ink and mixed media on paper drawings on the theme of mycelium as the substratum of life under our feet. Symbiosis are two A1 mixed media drawings. Both series were exhibited internationally by The Drawing Box.
Exhibited at
A series of five A5 mixed media drawings and two A1 drawings, made for The Drawing Box International touring exhibition, which lasted three years and traveled through several continents. The drawings have recently returned to Ireland and have been archived at NIVAL, the National Visual Arts Library at The National College of Art and Design (NCAD), in Dublin.
The subject of these drawings is the hidden life of mycelium, the substratum root network of mushrooms, with a web- like system spanning miles of underground terrain and functioning as a veritable internet of information and support, as well as a supplier of food and resources for the plant community.
Watching the film Fantastic Fungi online also offered a wealth of striking black and white images of mycelia in all its dark splendour which were used as references.
The interconnectedness of mycelium mirrors the eco philosophical notion of the Symbiocene, a natural state of being in which all life forms are dependent on each other and are therefore essential to the health of the system as a whole.
As humans, we have forgotten our inter dependence from all other non-human life forms, we recklessly consume and commodify life disregarding the fact that what we are ultimately undoing is our support network and our survival.