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The Lichen Cube began as a simple aesthetic journey - to create a square bag that looked living, and at one point may have been, but that entangled the visual appeal of aerial views of golf courses, constructed of dehydrated living greens - in this case, the lichen known commonly as reindeer moss. This was the first prototype of the Illegible collection, before I knew there was a collection to make. As I began to think, dabble, play and read more into the ubiquity of the natural world being scannable, made into inventory, and that inventory being monetized again - via barcodes, QR codes, topographic maps, linograph maps, and all of the philosophical weight each of these carries in the nourishment, or lack-thereof, between creatures known as human and the rest of the natural world - I landed on illegibility as the sacred space between being known and seen, while remaining unknown, untouched, and lovingly unseen.

 

Thus, as I reconsidered the lichen I was layering for aesthetic's sake alone, I began to think about the QR code, the ubiquity of its mise-en-abyme of squares, of oversized pixels our cameras can't help but capture, read, and re-direct our attention to whatever outcome the QR-placer demands. Did this natural topography in the build of a play on the water-usage of luscious, green golf courses already have something to say on legibility? 

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The Lichen Cube is a prototype.