Becoming Lichen - irregular diary - part 9

Lichenologies 12.09.25 - 11.10.25

Since the spring, Becoming Lichen has continued to expand through a number of walks and workshops based at Oriel Davies. Engaging with different community groups in Newtown we were to discover and reflect upon the ‘everywhereness’ of lichen life, and by spending time with these symbiotic beings, we began to understand their quiet but important niche in the ecology of our landscapes here in mid Wales, a place in which they thrive.

Finding places nearby where these organisms take hold (sign posts in the car park, trees & rocks in Dolerw, Hafren bridge, buildings in town, pavements, the gallery itself), through approaching lichen, touching, looking closely, finding ways to ‘be’ with them, asking ‘who are you?’, how is it to move with/like lichen? we began to think about what they might teach us about what it is to be human in a multi species world.

We worked with movement, clay, touch and a CCTV magnifier with the Sensory Impairment visual loss group. Ceri Owen-Jones played harp, the people who attended shared their stories, spent time together;

Through movement, touch, looking at lichen samples & reflecting on difference we met the Gateway group at Coleg Hafren;

Thinking about how we are always in touch, the ways lichen attach lightly to the earth, what it is to be symbiotic & to engage with the more than visual sense world, we spent a morning with the Oriel Davies writing group. The group wrote spontaneous poetry from the sensory experiences of lichen bodies and each other;

We walked with 2 different groups through Parc Dolerw and Newtown in early autumn. Pausing to notice and to learn from lichen colonies in their different niches, to understand that they take their nutrients from the atmosphere, that they are not ‘things’ but complex, multi species organisms. We moved together, sensed together, made new relationships in movement. Each time we returned to the gallery to view lichen samples under the magnifier and to listen to lichen field recordings made earlier in the year in an ancient coastal rainforest.

On a session in September we were accompanied by Ellie Bagget from Natur am Byth. An ecologist, Ellie shared her enthusiasm and knowledge of these beings, including some recent speculative research into their ancient origins, perhaps some lichen species arrived on earth via meteors?!

‘To study lichens is to get a taste of earth and health, to go gnawing the rocks and rails.’ David Henry Thoreau. 1859

Becoming Lichen will continue through 2026, growing slowly, continuing to learn from lichen life, we will share some new and exciting developments soon.

With thanks to all the participants; for your openness, enthusiasm, curiosity.

To Natur am Byth for supporting these sessions, to the staff at Oriel Davies, Coleg Hafren and Sensory Impairment unit for your care and for making this happen.