HYPHAE

These paintings begin underground.

They are rooted in the Javanese myth of Antaboga, the earth serpent, and his daughter Dewi Sri, goddess of rice and fertility. Their relationship reflects a biological reality: soil sustains plants through the invisible mycorrhizal networks formed by fungal hyphae, which exchange nutrients and recycle organic matter across entire ecosystems.

Developed in collaboration with a biologist, this series is based on microscopic observations of mycelium. Enlarged to human scale and painted exclusively with soil pigments, the branching structures reveal a hidden architecture of connection and transformation.

The myth of Dewi Sri completes the cycle. Following her death, her body becomes rice, bamboo and palm: an ancient vision of decomposition as regeneration. Long before ecology described nutrient cycles, these stories understood that life persists through continuous transformation.

These paintings seek to make that invisible process visible, inviting us to reconsider the living networks that sustain the world beneath our feet.