Hi, Iām Bogdana, a fungi kinš¤, entangled with the mycelium through stories of symbiotic flourishing, contamination and kiniship!šŖ¢šøI offer guided walks as joyous occasions for frolicking around local woods and parks, and getting to know fungi as important allies within our (natural-cultural) ecologies! More walks to come throughout October & November!
Bio:
Every time Iām asked when or how exactly āI got into mushroomsā, Iām stumpedā¦.sometime around 2019? I have no recollection of a definitive moment that drew me in, that exceptional experience that pushed me into the world of fungiā¦and I like that. It reminds me of the ārhizomeā that philosophers Deleuze & Guattari often refer to, with its multiple entryways and exits. I joined in through one of the many mycelial openings and have since been intimately entangling with hyphae, branching in different directions.šøI cannot get that date in 2019 or trace back my journey, but I recall its different paces and intensities, and the lessons that actively guide me to this day.Fungi are great teachers for learning *and* for unlearning. What began with the basics of identifying mushrooms as individual objects, made out of key parts and featuresšmorphed into a recognition of symbiotic flourishing, and a questioning of the colonial legacies nested within biological classifications. My reliance on visual observations, which made sure I stayed objective and separate š«” slowly turned into a full immersion that engaged all my senses in continuous processesšā¦suddenly the languages I knew couldnāt encompass our entangled lifeā¦Fungi taught me āthe grammar of animacyā, as Robin Wall Kimmerer calls it, and the value of language that acknowledges our worldās irregular, unexpected and queer eruptions and becomings. They taught me that the kind of language we use matters for the sort of relations and kinships we nurture within our world, and that welcoming ācontaminationā and fostering interdependencies are ways that we can care for each other & for forgotten kin in the ruins of capitalismā¦ācollaborative survivalā Anna Tsing says.We might not be used to reading stories without (traditional) human heroes, but fungi make us turn to these alternative accounts. How entangled are you within the mycelium?šš