Armillaria

This project, titled Armillaria, explores queer ecology by investigating the largest living organism in the world, the Armillaria ostoyae, or humongous fungus.

This project, titled Armillaria, investigates the world’s largest living organism, the Armillaria ostoyae. A single individual spanning three miles in Eastern Oregon, it is estimated to be over 10,000 years old. I visited the organism with the mycologist who has studied it for decades and brought a fragment of its ancient mycelium back to my studio, where I documented its slow growth and created spore prints in the darkroom.

Sitting beside this surreal organism prompted reflections on individuality, with its ability to separate yet return as one. The images evoke the uncertainty of the natural world and its inherent queerness, inviting viewers to question what they know about the larger ecological systems they inhabit, using fungi as a guide.