Film and Writing
Film and Writing
do i know you, mushroom? | 15 mins | 2024
This project is whole-heartedly a collective effort and a grand assemblage of many things. It weaves together poetry, academic conferences, mushroom forays and train rides to bask in the wonder fungi inspire. "do i know you, mushroom?" was created as part of my master's research where I asked artists who work with mushrooms to create work based on prompts I wrote. Later, I asked artists to use each others' work as prompts. The film features their art, interviews, alongside other footage and conversations gleaned from my fieldwork. To me, the film reaches toward the feeling of going on a mushroom foray — the textures, the journey, the contemplations on life and our interconnectedness, and the great wonder of fungi.
The anthropologist in me gathered, collected, interviewed; the mushroom lover in me foraged and followed where they led; the filmmaker in me sewed everything together.
Featuring: Fiona Glen, Annie Bulman, Matt Redies, Alyssa Isely, and more
Colour Me Fungi | 3 mins | 2020
A collaborative experiment made in the height of the COVID-19 quarantine, this film explores what it would be like to live as a fungus. Five artists, in different cities create unique pieces that reflect their artistic style in expressions of fungi over a poem about these magnificent creatures.
Artists: Lola Brown, Cheyanne Connell, Mackenzie Watson, Rachel Sault, Kennedy Lindsay
ANTHROPO a story about fungi in four parts | 18 mins | 2019
An exploration of four major themes that emerged during research on fungi for my undergraduate honours project on fungi; anthropocentrism, anthropomorphism, anthropology, and anthropocene. Delving into the worlds of fungi asks us to unpack our assumptions about our relationship with the worlds around us and challenge human exceptionalism. What is our relationship to fungi? Why does it matter?
Screenings:
Society for Visual Anthropology Film and Media Festival - Vancouver, BC 2019
Evergreen Short Film Fest - Coquitlam, BC 2020
The Egg and The Sperm | 6 mins | 2017
Inspired by Emily Martin's "The Egg and the Sperm: How Science Has Constructed a Romance Based on Stereotypical Male-Female Roles," this film was made as a school assignment, uing found footage to examine the dramatic narrative crafted out of the science of conception.
Teaventure | 7 mins | 2016
April - June 2016 I travelled with my love to Japan and China to learn more about tea. This is a slice of our grand adventure.
Selected Writing
Selected Writing
Although mushrooms and plastic seem to be very different, they have more in common than one might think. Just as plastic was once invoked as a solution to all manner of man-made problems, today the world-saving potentials of mushrooms are taking hold of entrepreneurial imagination. A look at the promises of plastic and mushrooms — and some questions about this manner of engagement with the lively kindom of mushrooms.
Published: 2023, SCHIRN MAG, as part of their "Plastic World" Exhibition at SCHIRN KUNSTHALLE Museum in Frankfurt, Germany
Translated into German.
"Interspecies Relationality: Tending to Affect in the Wood Wide Web Debate in Fungal Science"
Consciously or not, we are bound by our material and affectual relations with fungi. That is to say, we move and are moved by fungi. Throughout the history of the planet, fungi have played a major role in shaping the world we live in today. Fungi are a queendom of fascinating and enigmatic creatures — a vast diversity of species. As the popularity of fungi grows, with a particular interest in the worlds of mushrooms (the fruiting bodies of some fungal species) there is a demand for research on the lifeways and capacities of fungi. One popular finding in mycology, or fungal science, is the concept of the wood wide web. Mycelial networks underground serve as connectors between trees and plants, facilitating nutrient sharing and interspecies communications. As evoked by the metaphor “wood wide web,” the fungi-tree relationship has been summarized as trees talking to each other through internet-like mycelial networks. This metaphor alarmed some mycologists and ignited a debate about the roles and motivations at play in interspecies relationships. Is the natural world better characterized by competition and individualism, or collective wellbeing and care?
Published: 2023,TBD Journal, Vol. 8 Alternatives and Potentialities, Acadia University