Fortune Mushrooms
I first came across these mushrooms in a thrift store, I was instantly drawn to picking them up and handling them, upon doing so those I started to hate them as I couldn't work out what they were for, what function did they have, if there was anything attractive about there form. I quickly concluded no. But I still loved the feel of the smoothed wood, I decided to buy them as a challenge to myself to not always work with materials I am comfortable with, I was going to perform some interventions and try and do something with them. They were left on my desk for me to stare at, week after week until I finally came up with a plan. I started by caring for them, I brought beeswax polish and feed the wood, hoping that this would improve there appearance, which it did. It only aided in my hating them more though. So I decided that I needed to perform another action, I had this image of a sunflower head in my mind for weeks, and kept thinking of all the seeds falling out at the end of the season. So I started drilling holes, in all of them, everywhere over the tops of the mushroom. This in turn lead to more possibilities opening up, looking into the holes I was reminded of cracks in walls where messages could be hidden. That was how the concept for this work was born, as i wrote messages on tidy pieces of paper I thought about how would read them. I then changed my angle and added fortunes into the mix, so that anyone how read one would either receive a fortune or a randomised statement.
I find that these items seem more successful now, although they still often cause a reaction from most, a lot of people still read them as fungus and therefore uncomfortable. I see how they might act as tools, that could be seen with a shaman or witch doctor as they set about using items to harm and heal. There is a unusual balance between functional and everyday that is upset by the materials and context surround these items.
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