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IMAGINING MUSHROOMS, WINTERBOURNE GARDENS. An exhibition with artist in residence Ann Parouty, chemical engineer Philip Cox and composer Michael Zev Gordon. March 2015. Part of The University of Birminghams Arts & Science Festival.

I started foraging for mushrooms when I was about 8 years old. We lived on a dairy farm and in the mornings, in late summer, my brother and I would be sent out in to the fields armed with a washing basket or a bucket. The fields would have specks of white all over them. Small, large, buttons and flat. Popping out of the cow manure and bursting open. They were horse mushrooms and there were hundreds of them. Our task was to fill the receptacles then place them at the end of the lane with a ‘for sale’ sign and an honesty box.

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