Fruiting Bodies, Networks of Care

Acrylic paint, canvas, foam clay, wire, duck cotton dyed with fiber reactive dye
Dimensions Variable
2025

An immersive landscape of strange mycelium, constructed of three parts: mushrooms, created through an alchemical process of painting, cutting apart, and weaving the paintings together into a three dimensional form. Mycelium, large hanging weblike structures and small sewn pods that nestle throughout. Mycelium are the underground rootlike parts of mushrooms and 80% of all plants that live on earth depend on them.

In the midst of increasing hostility toward trans and gender-nonconforming people, the work invites mycelium to become the example of the natural, reciprocal relationships that can exist in queer communities. With this work I hope to amplify the importance of these often unseen networks of care and highlight the similarities between fungi and trans resistance - two types of beings that are vast, creative, resilient & interdependent. We do not have to be understood to be natural.

The small fabric spore pods are intended to be part of an activation in which encouragement, wisdom, and kindness are spread. Participants will be led through a writing exercise, place their writing into the spores, and then find another participants spore to take home. Participants are invited to germinate on the contents of their spore, acknowledging that they are the fruiting body where queer liberation can flourish.

Photos by Shawn Inglima Photography