Underfoot explored

 A women with silver hair drawing onto a large piece of paper on the wall which has projected images of roots and fungi on it.
A woman looking at images produced by microscopes suspended by gold thread from the ceiling.
A women in the foreground wearing red dungeress and a black hat placing small plant roots on an overhead projector. Images and text hang in the background.
A wide view looking into the whole installation. One person is drawing on the wall copying an enlarged image of a fungi spore. Two other people are looking at images and roots displayed on a table.
A close up of enlarged microscope slide images printed onto transparency film. They show chemicals in plant tissue, roots and fungi spores.
Close up of microscope slide images printed big and suspended from the ceiling. They show the nuculi in fungi spores and hyphea of mychorrhizal fungi.
Two women placing images and small plant roots on an overhead projector and looking at them enlarged on a wall.
A photo showing the space outside of the installation space. People are stood talking. In the foreground is a collection of small clay models and drawing with very wet clay, slip, on white paper on the floor.

About This Project

The world underground provides an irresistible setting for stories; epic myths, ecological entanglements, the place of ultimate rest. Emerging science about the complexity of the soil microbiome can feed the imagination and provide reason to be hopeful.

Underfoot explored is an installation that spotlights the intricate beauty of soil. Enlarged microscope slide images and maps produced by scientists are displayed along with their stories about why they are dedicated to revealing the secrets of this surprisingly photogenic, hidden world.

Visitors are invited to respond to what intreges them; to pick up images and create a composition on an old overhead projector. They can add to the collective visual compost by drawing and writing onto a sheet of paper covering one wall.
Quotes, facts and prompts relating to human’s position in the more-than-human world can be drawn from a compost caddy as invitations to reflect and be curious.

The researchers featured are:

Compost Mentis / The Soil Clinic

A soil and alternative sanitation co-op working for ecological and social justice in everyday urban spaces. Starting up a DIY facility for community soil testing and care which has the perk of wonderful images of soil microbes.

Eva Cea Torrescassana

Developing substitutes to fertilisers and other agrochemicals using “biostimulants”,  microbial-based compounds that promote the plant growth and protect plants from pathogens in a natural way.

Justin D Stewart, VU Amsterdam and SPUN

Investigating the evolution of cooperation between bacteria and fungi living on the root systems and mapping global diversity of mycorrhizal fungi.

Laura M Suz, Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew

Researching the diversity of ectomycorrhizal fungi in forests, their implications in ecosystem processes and the specialisation between fungi and their tree hosts.

Vasilis Kokkoris and colleagues, Kokkoris Lab, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Researching the evolutionary significance of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi unique cell biology.

“Our work has implications across many scales. Starting from the big picture, we are interested in how the underground networks contribute to carbon cycling across our entire planet. Huge amounts of carbon are pulled in the soil via the mycorrhizal symbiosis. The most recent numbers indicate that nearly 4 Gt CO2e per year are allocated to the hyphae and spores of these arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.
Storing 1 Gt CO2 per year requires 31 – 46 billion trees!

Understanding these dynamics is extremely important especially in terms of land preservation (why, how and which land we have to preserve urgently) especially while facing the dramatic consequences of climate change”
Vasilis Kokkoris

 

E17 Art Trail 2024

This installation was first tested at the E17 Art Trail, June 2024.

I partnered with artist, creative facilitator and death companion Hannah Crosson to create a space which took people from looking closely at life beneath their feet to getting hands on with the earth. Using local clay Hannah had harvested from the Waltham Forest Community Apothacary, visitors could process soil into clay, mould forms and create slip drawings – exploring the idea of ‘cross contamination’ within the installation itself.

Date

06/2024

Category
Art, Environment
Tags
art, clay, community, drawing, environment, fungi, learning, microbes, roots, science, soil, trees

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