As part of a university project, I have designed and created a collar that celebrates fungi as a species, while making a comment on the way we treat nature. We have interrupted the natural life cycle of trees that are helped to grow and decay through fungi.
Fungi growing on trees, particularly bracket fungi (which I have focused on), decays wood, acting as a natural form of deforestation. The collar comments on the fact that we no longer need fungi to decay nature, as we are a form of ‘fungi’, destroying trees through deforestation. Fungi also helps the growth of plants as its roots help to capture water and bring it back to the roots of a plant.
I decided to create a collar so that it would ‘grow’ around our neck, as it would on a tree. The fungi 'pieces' have been laser-cut and then hand-sewn around a structured calico collar.
