Michael Campbell: The Wilding

Michael Campbell grew up in the Midwest in the 1970's amid the handicraft movement with a home full of macramé, decoupage, and paper-mâché. 1,600 miles away from Haight-Ashbury, he made God's eyes in Cub Scouts and glued macaroni onto wooden crosses in Sunday School. From an early age, handcrafted objects and the divine were connected.

"My work explores our connection to the mysterious fungi kingdom. I’m curious about death and what lies beyond. As decomposers of dead, organic matter, mushrooms are symbols of the imminent life and death process. They release enzymes to feed on dead, organic matter. It’s a fascinating juxtaposition; an organism that cleans and clears away dead matter and an entheogen that, when ingested, brings about transcendent states of consciousness.

I’m interested in our perception of the eternal, the divine and the otherworldly through objects that bring about an alternate mythological narrative spoken through the voice of nature. This narrative suggests, counter to Judeo-Christian teaching, that we are all connected to the natural world and its ecosystem. A new earth-centered liturgy is offered by saintly objects and altars that seem to grow from the forest floor."