Decompose

Poppy Mansbridge, Big Picture, Hobart City High School

In collaboration with Dr. Lisa Gershwin

Artist’s Statement

This is not a realistic representation of a body, or of decomposition, but my own interpretation that views this process as a beautiful and symbolic experience of life, nature, and our relationship with the earth before and after we die. 

Inspired by the research of Dr Lisa Gershwin I choose to focus my artwork on glow in the dark Ghost mushrooms. Ghost mushrooms are not only incredibly beautiful but play an important role in the process of decomposition.

The aim of this piece is to show how beautiful decomposition can be and how important it is in the cycle of life. Normally death is seen as a scary thing so I choose to copy my own face, hands, and feet and use my own clothing for the body to show my acceptance of death as an inevitable part of life. 

I have used textiles and made a lot of pom poms to give the effect of greenery and moss. I used plaster casting to make sculptures of my face, hands, and feet so they would look realistic. I have used paper clay to sculpt the mushrooms and painted them with UV paint so that they glow.

This collaboration has given me the opportunity to learn a lot about Ghost Fungi, which has been valuable as I’m not sure when else I’d have this chance. I hope that at first the viewer sees a big mass of greenery and glowing mushrooms and are then surprised at the reality of the body. A feeling of unease is expected for the viewer, but I hope the peace of the body at rest is the most overwhelming feeling and that the ghost fungi can help to portray the beauty of life.

Photographer: OI Studios

Description: The aim of this piece is to show how beautiful decomposition can be and how important it is in the cycle of life. Normally death is seen as a scary thing, so I choose to copy my own face, hands, and feet and use my own clothing for the body to show my acceptance of death as an inevitable part of life. I have used textiles and made a lot of pom poms to give the effect of greenery and moss. I used plaster casting to make sculptures of my face, hands, and feet so they would look realistic. I have used paper clay to sculpt the mushrooms and painted them with UV paint so that they glow.