Mycelial Dialogues 「菌絲對話」 - 2024

^{Royal College of Art_MA Photography_Term 1_Final}

This project delves into the dynamic interplay between traces and restoration within the life cycle, merging personal narratives with ecological metaphors. Centered around a crab specimen and cultivated mycelium, the work explores themes of regeneration, decay, and the transience of existence. The crab symbolizes fragility and the potential for renewal, while the mycelium manifests as a visual and organic representation of repair—absorbing, transforming, and ultimately dissolving the physical remnants it inhabits.

Deeply rooted in the artist's lived experience, the project reflects a journey of healing and introspection. A childhood injury resulting in a fragmented left elbow left physical scars that became a source of vulnerability and self-awareness. The crab, as an arthropod capable of limb regeneration, serves as a poignant metaphor for the artist's yearning for restoration. The mycelium, thriving yet susceptible to external forces, externalizes the artist’s emotional and philosophical contemplation on self-repair and impermanence.

The photographic documentation captures the evolving interaction between the crab shell and the growing mycelium. Through time-lapse and static imagery, the work highlights the fragile balance between destruction and regeneration, inviting viewers to consider the impermanence inherent in both natural processes and human existence.

By intertwining symbolic materials with personal and ecological narratives, Traces and Restoration offers a nuanced perspective on the act of healing, posing broader questions about the interconnectedness of life, death, and the scars that define both.

本作品探討生命循環中痕跡與修復之間的動態關係，以螃蟹標本與菌絲體為核心媒材，構築一個融合自然與自我情感的敘事空間。螃蟹標本象徵生命的脆弱與再生的潛能，菌絲體則作為一種修復的有機體，以其獨特的生命哲學展現修復過程中的吸收與消解、生命與衰亡的交替循環。

靈感來源於藝術家個人經歷，其童年因左手粉碎性骨折而留下的疤痕，成為了對修復與再生的渴望象徵。螃蟹作為具備斷肢再生能力的節肢生物，與藝術家的身體經驗產生隱喻性的連結，而菌絲體的生長過程則進一步將這一情感外化，將痕跡轉化為視覺上的生命形態。

作品的呈現包括標本培育過程的定時拍攝與靜態影像，通過菌絲體在標本表面的吸收與感染過程，揭示修復本身的脆弱性與無常性。同時，這也引發觀者對生物共生關係及自然界生命循環的深刻反思，讓人重新審視痕跡作為一種存在的證明及修復的可能性。

通過材料的象徵性結合及情感敘事，《痕跡與修復》既是對個體創傷與重建的探索，也是對生命與死亡、修復與破壞之間永恆動態的思辨。

_{Medium: 3D Installation (Biological Specimen, Mycelium Cultivation, Photography)

Installation Process & Materials：

Acrylic Box (10 x 10 x 10 cm)

Crab Specimen (Sterilized through Biolab procedures)

Agar Medium as Nutrient Base

Golden Reishi Mycelium Cultivation

Photographic Documentation (Time-Lapse & Static)

Incubation Period: 1 Month}