Queer Mycelial Sanctuary

This was an Immersive Installation created for the MFA Degree show, Too Close, at the Burren College of Art in April 2025.

It is formed around the my desire to remind folks that nature is Queer and Trans, that it is natural to have variation and expansive ways of being.

The Mycological world, or the world of fungi, mushrooms, and mycelium, is expansive and ever-changing, much like Queerness. As a Queer person, I find kinship and affirmation in fungi. Every time I find wee mushrooms in the local woods, popping up almost magically from their near-invisible mycelium webs, I find comfort. I am reminded that Queer and Trans folks are a part of nature, that our expansive and transformative identities are a natural part of living.

One type of fungi that has inspired much of my research and work is the splitgill mushroom, or Schizophyllum commune. This fungus has an estimated 23,000 different genders, and I have found them in both the US and here in Ireland. These tiny fungi, each cap usually no bigger than 1-3cm, contain multitudes within their intricate structures. Fungi present themselves in a myriad of ways, like the incredibly varied and wonderful Queer and Trans communities. We are not unnatural, we belong.

These sentiments feel important, especially during a very intense and hostile time for my community. I wish I could be there for my Trans and Queer friends in the US, that I could hold them close and affirm that they are not alone. Being an ocean away and in a relatively safer place while watching my cherished friends having their rights violently ripped away has been devastating. This sanctuary is made to honor them, and to show support from afar by raising awareness of Queerness and Transness that exists in nature, and in this case, in the mycological world. To share that existing outside societal binaries is not unnatural and normalize expansive ways of being.

I have weaved my love for all of my Trans and Queer friends into every aspect of this installation. I believe in intentionality and bring my love for them into this sanctuary. I welcome visitors to come into this sanctuary and sit awhile. Share space with mycelium, present in The Heart of the Woods, while basking in the sounds crafted in collaboration with said mycelium and my dear friend, Llewyn Màire. Feel free to experiment with the carved mushroom blocks, ink pads, and provided paper on the right to create prints to add to the sanctuary by clipping them to the copper wires that extend from the porcelain forms on the walls, growing the mushroom community within the space.

The mycelium webs that mushrooms grow from extend beyond themselves, connecting trees in old growth forests to allow them to communicate. We are never alone, and we need each other to survive these trying times. We will weather the storms together.