WAVELENGTH OF A SPORE/ATTACHMENT

Polypropeline prints, grow lights, birch plywood, Mother of Thousands, silicone, plastic bags, potting soil, resin, water

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This piece consists of two light boxes and a planter. The images are from 2”x3” polaroids of two different types of mushrooms (reishi: left, oyster: right) I grew in Spring 2020 in my basement during the COVID-19 pandemic. The original images are lit with the grow lights used in their cultivation. Within the light boxes are four grow light panels, illuminating the print and ultra-saturating it with pink light.

The light reaches through the prints and is cast onto a tall tube filled with trash, offcuts, soil, and one plant. The plant is called a Mother of Thousands (Kalanchoe daigremontiana) which reproduces by creating clones from its leaves, as opposed to seeds. Last year, in a different project, I discovered that these plants are highly reactive to light. If exposed to bright light for a prolonged period of time, the chlorophyll becomes photo-oxidized to xanthophyll. This process makes the plant turn from a bright green to a pink. Because of this, the plant acts like rings within a tree, revealing times of brightness and darkness within its leaves.