In Ying Ang's collection of photography, Fruiting Bodies, mushrooms become a powerful metaphor for female beauty and women's hidden strengths.
Melbourne photographer and author Ying Ang was walking around inner-city gardens after her son's school drop-off when she became so fascinated by the mushrooms she noticed underfoot that her 20-minute walks began to spiral into into four-hour rambles.
"The magic thing about photography is that you don't really know what something looks like photographed until you photograph it," Ang tells ABC Arts."I find something very surprising about them," Ang says.Ang photographed mushrooms over eight months in 2024, and the resulting body of photographic work, Fruiting Bodies, launched at the prestigious Rencontres d'Arles photography festival in France earlier this month.Ang's compelling photographic series begins by confronting a struggle she considers common: women feeling they must cling to the fading remnants of their youth."Is that all we are — defined by what we once had? Or is there a deeper worth waiting to be uncovered?" she asks. Ang says there is a "connection with lessons in the environment and lessons in feminism" — a school of thinking known as Using those notions as a foundation, she highlights the transient beauty of mushrooms, using them as metaphors for complex ideas around female beauty.Ang finds a common point between women's experiences and the vast underground mycelial network that supports mushrooms and the unseen world; there, she says, there is hidden strength and resilience.Beyond the women in her life, who are her "key inspiration", Ang is inspired by authors such as Deborah Levy and Rachel Cusk and "the richness of their interior landscape".Photo shows In a leafy green spot outside, a woman wearing wide-brimmed hat and high-vis vest smiles. She cuts something small and yellow. The sudden death of her husband plunged Long Litt Woon into grief. Fungi helped her to rediscover joy. As a woman and a mother, Ang felt a deep curiosity about the stories her own body held within. "I mean, I've had a child, right? I've fulfilled my reproductive function, where is the value and function of my body?" she says.Mushrooms, with their ephemeralness, are a reminder of the interconnectedness of all life forms, Ang says. She's also pushing back against the trend of fetishising mushrooms in artistic imagery, a common practice she encountered in researching her book.Similarly, she argues that there is "a complete fetishisation of … our reproductive years as women". While Ang believes women's worth is often tied to their youth and fertility, her work — by contrast — celebrates the value of women beyond these parameters, including their roles as storytellers, caregivers and vital links between generations. In Fruiting Bodies, each mushroom image stands alone as a portrait, allowing readers to appreciate the delicate details and to find a deeper significance. The book is not just a collection of photographs; it is a journey into the heart of what it means to exist, to be seen and to reclaim one's narrative in a world that often overlooks the profound connections between life, death and everything in between. "I wish for to discover a secret that perhaps they have always known," Ang says. "I hope that people can meet me halfway as I introduce an idea, the beginning of a thread to be unravelled.Unrest, Conflict and War Photo shows A headshot of Emmanuel Macron with a neutral expression in front of a French and European Union flag.Photo shows A young woman wearing a hijab holding a malnourished young boy.Photo shows A woman with a child sitting in her lap sits in front of a sign reading: 18 months our 3 year is waiting for his surgery.Photo shows Close up of white material with various coloured threads woven through it, and scissors and other small tools hanging from it.
Mushrooms Photography Women In Photography Female Beauty Fruiting Bodies Fetishisation Mushroom Photography Female Body Fungi
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