Dreams of Childhood

Shuxiang Jin Farrell

Everybody has lots of dreams as a child.  I remember many of my dreams were during my summer holidays when I visited my grandparents in the village in north China.  My grandfather took me to the fields to collect mushrooms.  I still remember the two big, white, soft and beautiful mushrooms we found hiding under the big tree, with the birds singing early in the morning.  I loved those mushrooms and I will never forget them.  I still experience that fresh, cool and crisp early summer morning with the green grass full of dewdrops under my feet ….. I dreamt and dreamt that I could talk with them some day.
 

Years and years have passed and my dreams have come true.  I have seen so many types of beautiful mushrooms in the fields and forest here around London, particularly during my time in the Hawkwood Education Centre in Epping Forest.  This was where I did my residency whilst I was studying at the University of East London in 1998.  There I touched, tasted and felt them and learnt more than ever before.  It was at that time when I explored mushrooms more deeply both in my artwork and thoughts.

 I have continued to use mushrooms to express my feelings, both happy and sad, from my memories in the past and those of my present days in my work.  I believe mushrooms are a very shy group. As a child I always hid behind my mother whenever I met other people and mushrooms always hide under the trees or in the grass, even though they come from one of the largest, most varied and fascinating families living on earth.

Mushrooms play a vital role in the ecology of woodlands, fields and wetlands by helping to break down plants and dead creatures into food for the living.  Perhaps this is the reason I use their images in my artwork because I want people to know and understand them.  For example, they reproduce by spores and that is why you always find dots in my pictures.

Mushrooms have given me great pleasure and support in my heart and art over the years.  Many of the ideas and concepts for my work stem from my childhood experiences and memories.  I feel that by expressing myself through these abstract images I can share these with you.

New Forms, New Dreams, I will continue to take my inspiration from mushrooms, ‘From Nature to Abstraction’.  There is still a lot to learn and explore.  From Forms to Dreams and from Dreams to Forms I will make more and more new forms from my memories.  I will not stop and I still have a dream.