Mushroom Photography

Mushrooms are a vital part of the ecosystem of the planet and help with decomposition and decay, giving back to the land. They also have a complex system of "roots" with a structure similar to the synapses in the human brain, meaning they are nearly impossible to get rid of. Not only this but their spore release mechanism allows for wider spreading and communication over wider areas. 

Personally, I just love the shapes mushrooms create as well as the micro landscapes created when they pop up in random locations. The sheer number of shapes and colours fungi can take is fascinating to me as well as how their root system relates to the way humans function with one another, a veritable network of connections. 

Not only are mushrooms/fungi interesting to me, I find them very beautiful. Something about their shape has me captivated as well as how those shapes interact with other variables such as figures, skulls, lips and eyes that dominate my own personal work. The disjoining and fractured nature of the other variables are somehow made clear by the presence of mushrooms, being that fungi don't need context to appear, they are capable of living anywhere with their basic requirements; moisture, darkness and a food source (decaying organic material). 

That being said, I feel that mushrooms are a very feminine shape with their curves as well as the fact they appear in many shapes and sizes but are still beautiful. There is something so soft, yet so harsh about fungi that also reminds me of the idea of the feminine - beautiful, yet brutal and strong. I feel this due to the idea of the construct of the female being both the maternal (beautiful, caring, pure) and the life giver (pain, endurance, suffering). In that respect I feel fungi are inheriently feminine.

On the flip side of this, technically fungi/fungus is seen as a disease and caused many plant and animal species great harm over the years, even decimating forests and one type of fungus has even started a rudimentary type of parasitic mind control (Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, or the zombie-ant fungus). The symbiotic relationship created compels the ants to climb to the top of trees and grapple on to the side before the fungus takes over their entire system and releases spores upon the death of the ant to repeat the process. 

This all being said, the idea of combining female figures with mushrooms has been an idea plaguing me for a long time, and so I have started to sketch out ideas of how this would work. I am shifting between ideas of just having legs to the mushroom women with torsos, a mushroom head and no arms, or including the arms in the figures. I will experiment with both and see how this goes.