Lichen Jelly / Bog Butter

2023

A durational performance installation developed over two days in collaboration with Maja Lintrup and Skyler Philips for the exhibition 8kg of Sticky Eyelashes at Skaftfell Art Center, East Iceland. 

Curated and facilitated by Quori Theodor and Bobbioe Salvör Menuez

 Iceland moss jelly sac and gummy discs –

An Iceland Moss Jelly recipe from 1868 made with locally foraged lichen and with added local pine syrup.

Iceland moss was often used for the treatment of consumption, severe coughs and chest diseases. The jelly was hung and passed through fabric – in reference to the recipe – dripping down onto Skyler’s chest.

The Iceland moss jelly was also worked into gummy discs with edible lichen suspended in them.

Bog butter face and edible earth ~

Bog butter is an ancient substance found buried in peat bogs, similar to the preserved bog bodies. The tested lumps have usually been made from dairy or animal fat and found in some kind of wooden container.

Maja Lintrup wore her own face cast in butter whilst buried in edible earth, along with two butter forms wrapped in birch bark casing. 

The audience were able to eat the edible earth from around Maja and the lichen gummy discs and dripping jelly hanging over Skyler. 

Photography by Shan Turner-Carroll and Ella Yolande