"Fungal Amalgamation"

• Year: 2024

• Dimensions: 28”H x 50”W x 3”D 

• Materials: metal and wood

• Remarks: I found an oak tree stump that had been recently cut down after centuries of growth. Its surface carried the weight of time, with rings that recorded countless years of weather, light, and change. The people who cut the tree down had left a section where one of the crosscuts did not go all the way through, leaving the form incomplete. Drawn to this imperfection, I pried the wood loose, and a large slab came away from the stump.

On the inside face of this slab, I was surprised to discover a delicate layer of fungus. It was subtle, almost hidden, yet its presence spoke volumes. Here was the evidence of the tree’s transformation—an echo of its decay, a quiet reminder that even after its felling, the oak was still participating in a living process. The fungus revealed the fragility of organic matter, the inevitability of decline, and the persistence of life in unexpected forms.

This encounter became the inspiration for a sculpture. I wanted to create a narrative about this specific moment in time—when the strength of centuries yielded to fragility, and when decay emerged as both a natural and poetic continuation of life. In response, I poured molten metal onto the slab. The metal, once liquid and volatile, hardened into permanence as it cooled. By symbolizing the fungus with metal, I sought to memorialize that fleeting moment—preserving the fragile trace of transformation within a material associated with endurance and solidity.

The resulting work is a dialogue between the organic and the forged, between the natural arc of decomposition and the human impulse to preserve. It embodies both loss and continuity, holding in suspension the tension between impermanence and permanence. More than an object, it is a marker of time: a testament to the oak’s life, its inevitable decay, and the human desire to give form and meaning to what would otherwise fade unseen.