2021
Mycelium, cultivated lingzhi mushrooms and wood chips
This sculpture is a continuation of my practice, a focused evolution within the medium of cultivated fungi. Where previous works explored the symbolic form and growth of lingzhi, this piece confronts a more intricate technical dialogue between intention and organic agency.
The subject is the sleeping posture of my cat, a form that exists in a threshold state, embodying both profound comfort and the quietude of passing. Her repose became the archetype for this work, a shape suspended between vitality and eternity.
The intention was to render this fragile, transient posture in a material itself caught between states of growth and decay. To render this specific, delicate anatomy in mycelium presented a distinct material challenge. It required adapting my understanding of the organism’s growth patterns to a new, more nuanced morphology.
The process became an exercise in precision and surrender. Crafting a mould that could capture the subtle hollows and curves of a resting body, while still providing the necessary environment for robust mycelial colonization, pushed the technique further. It was a question of guiding, rather than forcing, the growth. The mycelium, in its search to consume and bind the wood-chip substrate, had to be carefully contained to preserve the figure’s integrity, while the cultivated lingzhi were encouraged to fruit, integrating with the form as both a surface and a symbol.
Thus, this work represents a technical deepening. It applies accumulated knowledge of mycelial behaviour and lingzhi cultivation to a form that tests its limits, the fragility of a sleeping animal. The successful casting is therefore a record of this advanced negotiation, where the symbolic themes of mortality, stillness, and healing are inextricably fused with the material proof of a hard-won, fragile balance. The sculpture stands as both a resolved image and a document of a process refined.