Mycelia Voyager series drawings develop a conversation around the first dictionary definition of element, as in, a part or aspect of something abstract, especially one that is essential or characteristic of that thing. The drawings associate inscriptions to cosmic scales and feathery freeform line work to the intimate traces of life at our feet. Cosmological coding inside spacecraft that are transmitting data from beyond the planets is put into play with the biological communication system of fungi in terrestrial soil. To connect two apparently unrelated systems, especially as 'language' and 'network' is a decision like that of the 'parti pris', in architecture, a term which "refers to the main ‘idea’ of the organizing principle that is embodied in a design and often expressed by a simple geometric diagram. The "parti" often expresses the essence of an architectural design reduced to its essence," as Virajita Singh writes in her design blog (October 2017, accessed 05/2024).

NASA’s Voyager mission has left the reach of planets, past heliosphere and solar wind, but the twin spacecraft still send notes from interstellar space. Data transmission may fail in a year from now. Onboard, each stows a phonograph record of gold-plated copper, cut to late twentieth century diagrams, images and music. Codex to be decoded, perhaps, although the nearest stars and other-life will be 1.8 light years away from the Voyagers’ path, in forty thousand years. Here on Turtle Island, on the forest floor, you can see proliferation in the spring soils—feathery, silvery nets, spreading threads across decomposing layers of millions of leaves shed by generous oaks. Mycelia are more than code. Here is new soil to come.

These drawings are made on handmade, hand-dyed kozo washi paper at 17 GSM by the Matsuo family in Kyushu Prefecture. Color is a variable deep blue-indigo, created through a direct dye process. Sheets are sheer, with a slightly polished surface, and slightly translucent. The visual and tactile effect of the paper is like a sky at dusk. The edges of the paper are rough, with pinholes in the corners. I chose drawing inks, mostly in an iridescent range, in silver, gold, and glossy pastel tones, on this paper, to create a shimmering effect, like a web. Photographs here can only approximate the iridescent color shifts present in the actual drawings.