What the lichen said

Lichens are not single organisms: each species is made up of a fungus, an alga and often at least one kind of cyanobacteria. The fungus creates a thallus that anchors the lichen in position, and it absorbs their water and minerals. The alga and bacteria produce sugars by photosynthesis. Together they can withstand the toughest conditions and over time help create new habitats for other species. I wondered whether the fungus and alga – if they could communicate – would be able to understand one another? As fungi and algae evolved at such different times, I concluded that maybe they couldn’t, and decided to attempt to write what each was saying (translated into English) on one side, and what they were hearing (a made-up language) on the other... It was fun to wonder what algae language would sound like, and how it would be different to fungi language. Here the alga is printed in light green/yellow, and the fungus in light blue. The cyanobacteria are printed in magenta. Once one is printed over the other, we humans can’t understand the lichen at all. However, I’ve displayed the separate alga and fungus layers because if you read the English translation of the alga across the line to the English translation of the fungus, it kind of makes sense…. Weird.