Rot Ferment and Decompose was part of the LEER Residency at the Leitrim Sculpture Centre 23-24

The processes of decomposition and decay have long fascinated me, representing just one of the many vital roles fungi played across ecosystems. These often dreaded and overlooked aspects of life and the environment became central to my work during the residency. I focussed more deeply on rot—and other fungal processes like fermentation, composting and retting areas I was eager to explore further, both conceptually and materially . During a period of the residency I engaged with the public through these themes in an open studio scenario spanning two weeks, as I wanted to explore them not only through biological and artistic inquiry but also through dialogue and exchange, in order to unpack wider socio-political and ecological questions. Topics of discussion such as waste, extraction, life cycles, death, systems thinking, colonial legacies, and reductionism emerged whilst delving into processes of material transformation, soil and matter formation, re-composition, and exchange alongside fungal growth and dried samples and mushroom materials.