Abbi Sargeant

DRAWING 

My drawing series, Fungal Women, was inspired by my fascination with the connection between humans and the earth. Fungi, an overlooked kingdom with many yet unknown attributes, possess properties crucial to creating a sustainable earth and curing diseases. As someone who has suffered loss due to breast cancer and been affected by a family member suffering from Alzheimer disease, learning that fungi can have beneficial effects for such diseases pushed my work to create a more intimate relationship between body and fungi. 

An important aspect of my work is the lack of materiality such as clothing and jewellery, to make spectators understand that our health and earth are more important than the materials we own. To create a relationship between both, I use graphite powder and liquid substrates to create prints of my naked body and mushrooms, allowing them to merge into one. I aim to draw my audiences’ attention to the importance of fungi, this will allow me to enlighten them about the symbiotic potential of humanities relationship with nature.