Huff and Puff at Llantarnam Grange 2023

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The narrative in my Huff and Puff project celebrates the relationships between fungi and humans. We know that nature has the power to restore and renew, this work acknowledges fungi’s place in the process. 

The imagery in this work is inspired by fairy tales. The maiden, in her jeopardy, works to spin straw into gold, transforming waste into worth. I have predominantly worked in machine embroidery, but I have also employed screen printing and embellished with fibres and Suffolk puffs. The figures blow spores of mycelium, referencing the ‘huff and puff’ of the three little pigs, who built with straw, wood and bricks. Translating these materials into sustainable mycelium houses, I have substituted chimney smoke for oyster mushrooms, while the houses themselves, reminiscent of luggage tags, represent the extending mycelium network. 

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