Dissolution 18

Mushrooms and other fungi have always been strange by human standards. We tend to think of them as plants, but they’re actually more closely related to animals. They are the humble recyclers of nature, breaking down plants, animals, and even rocks into nutrients that all living things can use again, but they do so with such flair - their visible forms colorful and statuesque, while like icebergs most of their bodies lie hidden underneath.

In “Dissolutions”, I’ve sought to document a new kind of fungal ability, as they take to the air beyond simply spreading spores. As biologists have recently uncovered, fungi act as networks that tie forests together, effectively creating a giant multi-species symbiosis. But surely they chafe at the limitations of a wired network, just as we do when the wi-fi is down. I suspect that they have finally managed to create wireless networks, which is what we are witnessing here.

“Dissolution 18” uses an image from DeviantArt photographer Jantiff-Stocks altered with the Filter Forge filter Artistic : Styles 6-X by Ramlyn. The resulting image was given additional filtering and color adjustment in Photoshop.