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Images via Melissa Jay Craig

Book mushrooms! Mushroom books! This is an installation called (S)Edition, by artist Melissa Jay Craig, who opens her artist’s statement with a classic joke: “Why was the mushroom invited to the party? Because he was such a fun-gi!”

Some people have uneasy, squeamish thoughts when they look at fungus: it’s something surreptitious, uncontrollable; it lives hidden underground in familiar locales, ready to spring to life unexpectedly, and it often manifests itself as part of the demise of another organism.

Fungus is an agent of change. I’m fascinated with its myriad forms, and I love to go in search of it.  I can become more excited by discovering a beautiful fungal growth than by perusing artwork ‘discovered’ for us by curators in contemporary museums.  When I was a child, the first time I had the intriguing feeling that the planet carried messages (texts, if you will) for those who were curious enough to look, was when I came upon a group of Amanita Muscaria, huddled together in a dark, secret space under tall pines.

You can see more of (S)Edition at Craig’s website — h/t to thisiscolossal.com for introducing us!