I’m interested in mushrooms, fungi – I saw the mushroom exhibition at Somerset House before lockdown, fascinating. They are neither plant nor animal. Their communication networks are huge. The question was posed – could we join in with their wood wide web, connect with nature, cooperate with nature? We are nature after all. Entangled, the new book by Merlin Sheldrake, sheds light into this underground world, a new place of exploration. There are so many fungal species, only around 6 per cent have been described. Too wet for the allotment where toadstools are sprouting up, I take 2 edible mushrooms from the fridge to the studio and draw them. I draw my palette, a pair of scissors. The mushrooms again. They seem impenetrable. The cups separated from their roots. I’ll cut and fry them tonight, I’ll chew and swallow them. They’ll be inside me. Sheldrake says that the vast majority of fungi live most of their lives as mycelial networks. It’s how they feed. Unlike animals, which put food in their bodies, fungi put their bodies in their food.
