27 April 2011

Magic mushroom-books

Imagine a wall full of these! - no, don't imagine, click here and see (S)edition, and more work by Melissa Jay Craig (among the paper book works, Ceded uses dock seeds for text; wonderful!) -Not only do I admire the imagination and skill involved in making these mushroom-books, there is a personal association. Spotty mushrooms are deeply ingrained in my childhood - appearing in the German children's books that were read to me (especially Die Haschenschule). A favourite aunt had a set of red and white spotted china, possibly pre-war, still in use when we visited her in the 1970s.

Yet Amanita muscaria, though beautiful, is poisonous and psychoactive (red for danger?). Unromantically, it is commonly known as fly agaric.

1 comment:

the vapours said...

Perhaps, the connotations here are that we can learn from the mushroom, as a teacher?