Dried Red Reishi Mycelium and her fruiting bodies rest on rosemary dyed cotton. The hyphal filaments of the mycelium are selectively dyed with rust.
This work is born out of lives and material that was unwanted, undervalued and discarded.
Rusk salvaged an entire rosemary bush from a local yard excavation, and used its leaves to dye the cotton you see before you. Rusk repurposed a thermoformed 3d model as a mold to cast and cultivate discarded substrate inoculated with red reishi spawn. Once the reishi had grown, Rusk dried and dyed the vegetative body with rust derived from discarded machinist parts.
“Discarded” honors the leftovers, the “weeds”, and the living that are lost to nothing less than their inconvenient existence. “Discarded” highlights the values that this practice upholds and its reflection in the evolution of American industry.
Red Reishi Mycelium + Fruiting Bodies
Rust Dye
Rosemary Dyed Cotton