Matt Gale
Queer Biologies
I received Arts Council England (DYCP) funding in August 2021 to develop clones of wild, British fungi which was cultured to explore mycelium as a sculptural and textile material.
As the project developed I became increasingly interested in living fungi as fundamentally queer organisms which has led to a range of different projects examining their roles in the enviroment (Dirty Cultures) and their interaction with each other (CRYOphage) and other organisms. The following documents some of the research I've been doing and the organisms I'm working with.
Check out my Instagram for much more: @matthew.r.gale
Fungi
Cloning process
Small samples of fungal tissue are removed from the fruiting bodies (mushrooms) found growing in deadwood. These biopsies are grown on nutrient agar in petri dish producing mycelium that forms the basis of the materials I am growing.
Growth processes
Once mycelium has proliferated across the nutrient agar, it can be induced to grow through other substrates such as wood shaving. I am exploring a range of different means to grow mycelium, but broadly they are either sculptural or in sheets.
Photos document the growth stage of a cylindrical structure (white) and the same structure after it has been dried and preserved.
Mycelium can also be encouraged to grow within a mold. These photos show how mycelium packed between two bowls will grow together forming a mycelial bowl. This structure was also induced to grow fruit.
Much of my current research has been experimenting with creating sheets of mycelium, that could function as a form of textile. Once preserved, the fungal 'skin' has a leather-like appearance. The pigmentation, durability and the appearance of secondary structures is dependent on the species used.
Several images in this gallery show mycelium that has grown through materials such as fine mesh and a cotton T shirt, creating a hybrid textile.
An additional aim is to explore how to induce fruiting with different species so that these structures can form part of the sculptural or textile works.
Other organisms
Plants
Mostly plants are seen as a backdrop, the scenary behind what more interesting animals are doing with their lives.
Plants are aliens in our midst, they just live their lives in a paraspace where time moves much slower than for the rest of us.
Invertebrates
More aliens living alongside us! Invertebrates were my first interest as a child (I had no interest in toy cars, but give me a trowel and point to an ant nest and I was happy for hours)