Fungiverous: feeding on fungi or mushrooms.

Historically misunderstood, fungi have only recently being recognised as a “kingdom” of their own, apart from plants and animals.

Fungiverous draws from the symbology of mushrooms as a force to be reckoned with. Powerful, mushrooms have been known to puncture up through cement. Magical and intoxicating, shamans and psychedelic explorers have embraced the hallucinogenic properties of fungi to offer gateways into other worlds of perception. Valuable and delicious, they include many edible types, the most prized of all being the truffle. Fungi are a much overlooked, yet vitally important element to every eco system. Almost all trees have a complex symbiotic relationship with a fungi type. Certain fungi constituents are also capable also of mycoremediation, or detoxifying contaminated soil.

Fungiverous presents a group of timber sculptures, inspired by, but not limited to the taxonomical exactness of fungi. Wood has been selected specifically as the material for these sculptures as it pertains to the relationship trees and fungi possess. I have employed a de-formalising approach of classical woodturning called “off-centre turning” finished with acrylic paint and beeswax. The colours selected for the sculptures are representative of the broad spectrum found in the fungi kingdom. I like the term “jewels of the forest”, which is used to describe fungi. In my own experience in the bush and forest, the brightly colored mushrooms are often in dazzling gem-like contrast to the surrounding muted tones.

The drawings in Fungiverous depict mycelial growth: thousands of delicate white lines suggest threads of hyphae, the strands that make up mycelium. Mycelium is the largest living thing on the planet- hyphae is capable of spreading out thousands of metres underground. Two subterranean perspectives are presented in these drawings, framed either as a cross section or aerial view, suggestive of interconnected hidden realms where very quietly massive growth takes place.