Living in the Anthropocene, human activity continues to have a negative impact on our environment. My work examines the human activity of deforestation in my homeland of Castleshane, Co. Monaghan. Exploring the term solastalgia, I reflect on the emotional connection that I hold with the forest and the disruption that deforestation has on the natural biodiversity of the land.

Mycelium networking systems play a huge role in the ecosystem of a forest. This fungal networking system connects tree roots together supplying nutrients required for a flourishing forest, also known as the “wood wide web”. My work explores how deforestation not only kills the trees, our main source of oxygen, but disrupts this magical networking system beneath the forest floor.

*Anthropocene: The current geological age, viewed as the period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on the climate.

*Solastalgia: Distress produced by environmental change impacting on people while they are directly connected to their home environment.