The Story of Mycelium
Mixed Media: Rust, Digital, Acrylics, oil pastels, charcoal on handmade Korean Hanji paper mounted on burlap.
60 x 30 x .2 inches
2023

Through my new series “Mycelial Flow” I have found myself immersing myself in deeper knowledge to find remedies to save our planet and its ecosystems. And I have discovered Mycelia- the vegetative part of a fungus, consisting of a network of fine white filaments. A new ray of hope is rising from the mushrooms and underground network of mycelia to regenerate, activate, and heal the damaged state of our environment. This series creates a visual discourse that bridges science, spirituality, natural diversity, diaspora, and language. It asks the viewer to consider the common good, sustainability, and collective healing. By drawing from science as well as spirituality, it engages the viewer on multiple levels of emotion, mystery, rationality, curiosity and devotion.

Mycelium mushrooms have been one of my greatest teachers in regard to social justice related issues. The word mycelium means ‘more than one.’ The mycelium organism is a dynamic root system of mushrooms that utilizes trust as a mechanism to build and sustain a vast, reciprocal, underground network that connects the roots of trees and plants and skillfully shares nutrients and resources to support the health of the entire ecosystem with which it moves. If only such trust and principles were baked into our own social structure, it would bring justice around the globe!

Secret Dialogue
Rust, Acrylics on canvas
36 x 18 x 2 inches
2022

As forest ecology has developed, we increasingly see that it is the fungi that coordinate forests and ecosystems, acting as connective tissue between all beings. Like an underground highway system, mycelium carries nutrients—nitrogen, carbon, and phosphorus—between plant roots, nurturing the collective growth of its community. Its contributions don’t stop there: plants with fungal allies are proven to be more resilient when it comes to infestation and disease, and mycelium has even been shown to transmit messages between plants through a language of chemical signals. The invisible network of mushroom mycelium found in nature is a dynamic rooted network that works to build and sustain vast, reciprocal, interconnections. On a human level, these connections speak to us of the nourishment and growth possible in our organizations, communities and social movements.

I secretly watched the intimate moment
Between the roots
And the Mycelia!
Who met, advancing, moving rapidly
The roots
Embracing them, twining around
Pouring nutrients, water and love
And roots wondering
Surrendering
Receive nutrients
Water and love and
Continue thriving
Is it my imagination or scientist’s proven theories?
May be!
But it is inspiring a new hope in
These times of environmental collapsing stories…

Reaching Out_I
Rust, Digital, Jute Twine, Charcoal and Acrylics on handmade Korean Hanji Paper mounted on board.
60 x 30 x 2
2022

Mycelium in nature and in movements believe in the collective ability to channel and receive nutrients where needed, protect against those who harm social progress, and expand roots into necessary sites of growth. The network process also fosters intergenerational relationships that connect the ancient wisdom residing in older trees towards the benefit of younger trees. These mushrooms affirm a commitment to building relationships of trust that encourage all life to bloom. Mycelium is a fully open-ended and indeterminate dynamic structure that can continually respond to changing demands of our social movements. The word mycelium meaning “more than one” serves as a metaphor that no justice work is done alone. There are no solo acts and everything and everyone is interconnected into the web of the whole. Each organization or movement, like mushroom spores, develops individual and flexible characteristics, but always in connection with the communal body. The metaphor of mycelium in a time of social justice and reckoning asks that we center deep connection, ancestral wisdom, trust, and shared resourcing. I see this particular body of work as important in terms of contributing to the aesthetic foundations of movement work. As an artist and member of society, I aspire to embody more and more of these principles in my own practice and ask my audience to do the same.