Making Kin with Lichen Laura Dempsey

Here lies lichen moss harvested from the boreal forest of Newfoundland. Within its complex and unique appearance lichen holds a symbiotic partnership between an algal or cyanobacterial partner and their fungal host, a story of cooperation. The lichen appears in a variety of environments, and adapt in harsh climates. Their areas of growth are on substrates such as rock, soils, trees and human made structures, a story of resiliency.

As I began this sculpture, I reflected on “Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Plantationocene, Chthulucene: Making Kin” by Donna Haraway.

In this sculpture I used the story of lichen as a speculative tool and metaphor for integrating kin back into our web of relations and knowledge of understanding.