Interconnection and interdependence
Exhibition ‘Soil: The World at Our Feet’
I recently had the opportunity to visit the exhibition ‘Soil: The World at Our Feet’ (sculpture by Jo Pearl) at Somerset House in London. Describing soil as ‘the giver of life, an abundant universe within a universe full of possibilities’, it displayed the hidden depths of soil through art, digital techniques (thanks to Dutch artist Wim van Egmond), sound (including the sounds of microbial life in soil, in collaboration with musician Michael Prime) and microphotography (through the work of artist France Bourély, making the invisible visible – whether that is an image of a dung beetle, an ant or a bee’s wing).
The wonder of soil
Of course, we live with soil all around us, both at our very doorsteps, and further afield in countryside and remote and apparently barren landscapes. The exhibition brought home powerfully to me (as the show’s blurb says) ‘the wonder of soil, its unbreakable bond to all life, and the vital role it plays in our planet’s future. Inviting the audience to think about soil as much more than just dirt, this exhibition seeks to unlock the secrets of soil, emphasising how it is the priceless foundation of all life on Earth….Soil is the great interconnector’.
Mycelium networks
Art collective Marshmallow Laser Feast’s exploration of the world of funghi and mycelium networks in a vast digital projection Fly Agaric I, with a voiceover by mycologist and author Merlin Sheldrake, portrayed movingly and beautifully how ‘the fungus network explores the labyrinth of the soil, transporting nutrients to plant roots…. and trading them with the plant in exchange for carbon, which includes sugars…. These symbiotic networks are the plant support system: coming together, the networks achieve things that none could achieve alone’. These are complex and crucial trading strategies. As Sheldrake wrote with Toby Kiers in The Guardian of 30th Nov 2021 “most plants depend on mycorrhizal fungi … which weave themselves through roots, provide plants with crucial nutrients, defend them from disease and link them in shared networks sometimes referred to as the ‘wood wide web’ ”. Isn’t this a reflection of how human society and organisations function?
Interconnections
Another parallel became evident to me here: not only humans, but all living beings, are interconnected through this kind of vast and deeply complex mycelium network. Nothing happens in isolation, and impacts can be felt very far from the source. But there is no doubt that they are felt. We see this in systemic constellation work with families and organisations (an illness manifesting for one member of a family, for example, may turn out to be linked to a tragedy that occurred two generations ago in a remote part of the family). And consider, for example, who and what may be impacted in an intercontinental trade war between the US and China – including lithium miners in Zimbabwe, oil producers in Venezuela, fishermen in Argentina.
Reciprocity
Reciprocity (which I referred to in my blog on Edges with Depth) is also demonstrated in Fly Agaric I – the image at the head of this post. It portrays a giving and receiving, sustaining and nourishing the life of the soil, and thus our lives. It’s also how human society functions at its best and its most elegant and healthy – and explains why parts of our society seem to be foundering in the absence of such reciprocity.
Interconnection and interdependence
It’s that point about interconnection and interdependence which struck me above all. It made me realise how much I (and I suspect we) take soil, and the miraculous interconnections within it, for granted. For human beings, there would be no life without soil – the great interconnector indeed. In parallel, human relationships and the complexity of the systems they form, are essential for the functioning of society – for economic, political, commercial, social and education systems, for emotional and psychological wellbeing, the development of identity and self-concept, and cooperation and problem solving, for family, kinship and organisational networks, for community and civic engagement, and for social movement and collective action.
Relationships within soil, and between soil and the world beyond it
As a visitor to this exhibition, I came to see in greater depth the exquisite relationships that exist within soil, and between soil and the world beyond it, the latter including human settlement, farming and society, climate and climate change, waste, land, justice, and colonialisation, and beyond that to human experiences of beauty and wonder, neglect and grasping appropriation.
Being is always being with
The exhibition reminded the visitor that in the plant world, ‘being is always being with…. A web of relationships. We too are ever changing webs of relationships’. Spending just a few moments with those concepts, the impact on my experience and my thinking was huge. ‘Being with’. That’s the nature of my coaching: through profound presence and deep listening, that’s what my coaching offers, and that’s what enables growth, development and change in my clients. When I reflect that what soil gives rise to, simply by being, is exactly that experience, I’m blown away.
Climate emergency, interconnectedness and interdependence
This exhibition offers a beautiful celebration of the interconnectedness which keeps our living world below and above the surface of the ground – and between the two – alive. It demonstrates how systems below and above ground function through their interconnectedness with, and interdependence between, each other. Current climate change and the consequent climate emergency are, of course, a vivid, dramatic and alarming illustration of this.
See https://marshmallowlaserfeast.com/project/poetics-of-soil-fly-agaric-i/ for some extraordinary images and videos on this theme
Photo: Fly Agaric 1 – part of Marshmallow Laser Feast’s Poetics of Soil series https://marshmallowlaserfeast.com/project/poetics-of-soil-fly-agaric-i/
