REBECCA CUMMINS

 SPORE DRIFT, 2020-22

Digital prints on sintra, variable sizes: 14x21”, 11x16.5”, 20x30”

Fungi spore prints on glass with magnets

Existence has overpowered Books. 

Today I slew a mushroom.         Emily Dickinson, 1874

During COVID lockdown, I began to forage for fungi and to make spore prints from hundreds of mushrooms gathered in the mountains, local golf courses, UW campus, city parks and my yard.

A spore print is made by placing the cap of a mushroom on paper or glass. Over time and in collaboration with air currents in the studio, spores fall from the mushroom caps, producing a fine powder that varies in color and character. Witnessing the spores drop is magical; it’s as if the mushrooms are drawing themselves on the glass or paper I provide. Paradoxically, the images formed by the spores resemble photographic negatives. 

The piles of spores are 3-dimensional, fragile, and easily disturbed. The white spores on black paper are documented photographically and presented on the wall.  The 4”x4” glass sheets are actual spore prints.

Support for this work was received from the Milliman Endowment Fund, School of Art + Art History + Design, University of Washington.