Marina Heron (Tsaplina) is an artist, scholar and organizer developing Soil and Spirit, a large-scale, site-specific kinetic installation that will travel to endangered forests across the country and connect diverse communities to the histories and spirits of place.
On the evening of Wednesday September 28th, she will share with the Friends of Buttonhook Forest community some early microscopy research she has done on two roots and associated mycorrhizal fungi present in Valley Ridge/Buttonhook Forest. She will also share the consent and anti-extractive ethics protocols that Soil and Spirit is engaging at every step of the project development which vary from standard laboratory/research practices.
Mycorrhizal fungi are fungi that form a symbiotic (mutually beneficial) relationship with the majority of plants and forests on the earth. Mycorrhizae are critical for storing carbon in the soil, ecosystem health, and biodiversity.
Marina is a 2022 - 2023 Visiting Artist at Duke University. The content of this presentation emerges from her collaboration with Rytas Vilgalys’ Fungi Lab and PhD student Jake Nash, the Soil and Spirit Bass Connections project team, Mohawk-Nipmuc medicine and culture keeper Nohham Rolf Cachat-Schilling, and Friends of Buttonhook Forest.
You can learn more about Soil and Spirit and the project’s artistic research goals by visiting Click here for link to Soil and Spirit’s collaboration with Bass Connections at Duke University
Zoom Link will be sent before the event.
Registration Closes on Wednesday, September 28 at 5:00 pm.