Leslie Salgado
Leslie Salgado is a contemporary artist from Firenze, Italy. Her practice centres around the use of different types of fungi, which she experiments with and allows to grow and develop into artworks.
Rather than starting with a finished image in mind, Leslie gives the fungi space to develop. As they grow, she begins to recognise stories, shapes and details within the work. The process becomes part of the artwork itself, with the final piece emerging gradually from what the fungi creates.
Working with fungi has become a recognisable part of Leslie's artistic practice and a recurring element throughout her work. Inspired in part by The Last of Us, she began experimenting with different fungi and ways of growing them, exploring how something organic and unpredictable could become part of an artwork.
Once the fungi has developed, Leslie creates a linocut from the result. In this way, something that has grown naturally becomes a handmade print, capturing the forms and details that emerged during the process.