The Future is Fungal
Why are queer people so into fungi? How can we learn about identity through them?
One of my favourite projects and the one that ignited my passion for queer ecology and fungi, The Future is Fungal was a two year project looking at why queer people connect so much with the fungal world and how that might be used to teach young people about identity, self acceptance, and tackle bullying.
The Future is Fungal was a project run over two years that evolved and grew mycelially as it went. Initially I, along with other participants, took part in creative, research focused workshops exploring queer ecology, fungi, queerness and identity.
With our learning from this process we then started to develop our own creative workshops and activities focused around our learning such as Mapping our Networks like mycelium, Who would you be as a Fungi?, and Blackout Poetry with old mushroom adverts. We delivered fungi walks and workshops for UK fungus day in 2022 and 2023, as well as putting together a series of lesson plans for KS3 looking at fungi and identity, which will be available on the Amgueddfa Cymru website.
This project fully ignited the spark of interest in fungi and queer ecology, and has led me into the work that I do today and I continue to work with Amgueddfa Cymru running fungi workshops and walks.
Collaborators: Amgueddfa Cymru (Museum of Wales), Cardiff University, Being Human Festival
Funded By: Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
My role: Research Participant, Co-curator/creator of queer fugi workshops, creative activity and Lesson Plans
Outputs: Queer fungi walks and Workshops for Uk Fungus Day (2022 and 2023), Lesson plans for KS3 looking at fungi and identity.
When: Spring 2022 - Autumn 2023
