London was once a lichen desert due to being one of the most air-polluted cities in Europe; however, due to the reduction in sulphur dioxide pollution, many nitrogen-sensitive lichens can now be found. To understand lichen better, I embarked on an intensive exploration centred on London's lichen communities, which are unassuming sentinels of the environment. Fragile and resilient, lichens speak to us about the subtle changes in climate change and air pollution. Lichens can be found everywhere due to their small size but can be easily overlooked, especially in London. You're more likely to mistake lichen for a stain, a smudge, or some discarded chewing gum than a colourful symbiotic combination of fungi and algae.

This project hopes to reveal that it is not only air quality that often escapes our hurried gaze but also larger-scale ecological changes. The project reveals a metaphor. When I superimpose images of lichen samples from different regions, they form a portrait enclosed in glass. Environmental change is an urgent theme, reflecting our collective responsibility to nurture the life of the land. Each lichen is part of this existential picture, leaving its unique mark. When one reads these images, it is as if one is participating in the growth process and feeling the changes in the earth.