Fermented Umbilicaria mammulata lichen and dye, abaca fiber, water-based paint
13” x 19” framed print; flamework glass vessel dimensions vary ~18” x 6”
Intergalactic Navel Gazing is an archive of my encounter with the Umbilicaria mammulata lichen: printed broadsheets with a lyrical essay mix science, historical and personal accounts to describe foraging and processing the plant; thin sheets of handmade abaca paper with lichen remnants from the dyeing process resemble and pucker like skin; while, flamework glass vessels filled with dye call to mind the atmosphere and paradoxically the human body. This work engages a symbiotic species to elaborate on the concept of interspecies dependency.
One of several projects that employs natural dye making and ethnobotanical processes as a mode of discovering place through plants. Writing and printed matter related to this project are available through Fruit & Rot.
Create Space Gallery, Cold Spring, NY.