Highlights include works created from local earth and materials created through the fungus recycling process, paintings based on data that tracks how mushrooms grow, and an artists’ book that stretches eight metres across the gallery.
Exhibition curator Felicity Spear said the gallery would feature digital projections of the forest floor, sound installations made from recordings of tree roots and soil, and live experiments where sensors track the movement of growing fungi.
“The artists invite you to imagine what it might feel like to see, or hear, or smell, through the nurturing exchanges between species which are often remote from the immediacy of our human senses,” she said.
“They ask you to imagine what it might feel like to be something other than human.”
Ms Spear said neither plant nor animal, fungi underpinned all ecosystems, living in water, on trees, in the air, and even on our bodies.
“Their networks span kilometres and they are linked to every function on the planet, from food security to pharmaceutical medicines,” she said.
“Despite this, they remain largely misunderstood and their future is threatened by the impact of human influences.
“WAMA at Gariwerd is building a bridge between nature and culture, prompting us to think about human culture not as separate from, but intertwined with earth’s hidden networks and ecological systems, mutually shaping each other.”
Exhibiting artists include UK environmental artist Chris Drury, sound artist Vicki Hallett, environmental photographer Alison Pouliot and handmade book and digital collage artists Gracia Haby and Louise Jennison.
Other artists include Sam Leach, Chris Henschke, Debbie Symons, and the curator herself, Felicity Spear.
The entire March 25, 2026 edition of The Weekly Advertiser is available online. READ IT HERE!
The entire March 25, 2026 edition of AgLife is available online. READ IT HERE!
