2023
Mushroom spore print on paper
I create these works through a spore-printing process in which mushroom spores settle directly onto the surface, forming images through dispersion, accumulation, time, and chance. Rather than depicting mushrooms, I use fungal material itself as an image-making medium.
The resulting forms hover between presence and absence. Some retain traces of the mushroom’s structure, while others dissolve into stains, halos, shadows, and unfamiliar shapes. At times they resemble photographic negatives or afterimages, yet they are not representations of an observed subject. They are physical records produced through direct contact between biological material and the surface.
I am interested in this shift from representation toward trace. The mushroom becomes simultaneously source, material, and image-maker. I initiate the conditions for the image, but I cannot fully determine how the spores disperse, gather, or register. My intention therefore operates alongside material behaviour and chance.
In Residual Bloom, the image emerges from what an organism releases and leaves behind. I am interested in how biological processes can participate directly in image-making, transforming the surface into a record of temporary presence, dispersal, and change.