Last summer, I was lucky enough to present an installation as part of my favourite festival, La Nature. It was an invitation to pay attention to our surrondings and a bubble of connections populated by ceramic lichen.
Familiar to all but known to no-one, the lichen is a strange little organism because it is twofold. It defies science by being neither a plant, nor a vegetable, nor ‘one’. It is a symbiosis between two partners: a fungus (mycobiont) and an alga (photobiont). The former provides the support, water and minerals for the algae, while the latter provides some of the sugars for the fungus through photosynthesis. As a player in the politics of life, the lichen is a fascinating example of identity by association rather than division.
Although it is estimated that 8% of the Earth’s surface is covered by lichen, it seems to be on the margins, in resistance. Often described as ‘leprous’, ‘pustular’ or ‘tubercular’, these living creatures do not spontaneously engender empathy. Omnipresent and unloved, they force us to rethink the rules governing the distribution of identities and to see every species as a contingency.
To take an interest in lichen is to recognise the sum of miracles that lead to life. It also means narrowing the gap between humans and other living creatures. Getting to know them and recognising them means multiplying the opportunities for wonder and anchoring ourselves in our environment. The closer you get to the lichen, the more you see it, everywhere.
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