The Future of Fungi
Maymana is a gardener, activist, artist, writer and nature lover, who, moving forward after their post-graduate degree, is looking to how we can learn from and work with the natural world, and more specifically, the remarkable world of mushrooms.
During COVID, Maymana left London and moved back in with her parents in the Kent countryside. Here, she was able to find solace in nature, taking long walks foraging and exploring. During this time, they discovered a new passion and consequent obsession; the wonderful world of fungi. She began thinking about them, feeling them, scratching the surface of their power and learning about how they care for and protect ecosystems. When the world felt in flux and uncertain, Maymana turned to “this care web that’s happening beneath our feet, holding us in place, on earth”. She would return roughly every other day to a spot in a forest an hour away from their family home; a spot that she has been visiting since she was seventeen, to continue to “build a relationship with” the land and watch it move from a once barren landscape to a dense ecosystem, “bursting with life.”
Fungi are a world unto themselves; a diverse fusion of organisms that live out of sight; what we typically know to be fungi or mushrooms, the odd, bouncy things that we find deep in forests, are simply only the flowering part of the organism. They are integral to plant growth, helping them to draw water and nutrients from the soil, yet their full capacity and power is hugely unknown. Research is being done into fungi at a colossal rate to discover how they may be able to help from anything as varied as organ transplants to biofuels to construction.
Maymana recently finished their post-graduate at University College London winning the MAPS Postgraduate Taught Prize award for their dissertation on mycorrhizal fungi, radical futures and care work. Reading through her work, it is fascinating to see the connections that can be made between our world and the fungi world. The networks built by fungi act as both a model for how we can restructure our society in a way that cares more for one another and for the planet we live upon. Maymana’s writing is powerful and hopeful, exploring a new way of thinking and acting as taught to us by fungi. Moving past her degree, Maymana is exploring beyond the power of fungi, towards herbalism, going on foraging walks as part of ‘Misery Party’, a mental health collective for people of colour and trans and queer people. These walks are free of charge and centred on healing, including activities such as creating “herbal remedies together”. Maymana is also turning their hand to horticultural therapy, merging their early studies in psychology and science to find alternatives to mental health treatment through access to green spaces and gardening. One of the ways that Maymana is doing this is by teaching at a community garden, as well as also finding joy as an ecology educator to young children where she “goes into nurseries to teach two to four year old children about different aspects of nature.” A rewarding experience as Maymana says, at this age, there is so much energy and excitement to learn and experiment.
Maymana knows that with everything they do, there are always questions at the forefront of her mind such as: “Is it morally right? Or is it something that’s harming people or the planet?” This is something, taking a leaf out of Maymana’s book, we should practice more regularly as part of our daily actions to step towards a change regarding how we interact with each other and our planet in a more care-based way.
Find Maymana on Instagram at
@fungi.futures
