Ego te medeor (I protect you)
Ophélie Queffurus, 2016
Plaster, Physarum Polycephalum, agar.

The Physarum Polycephalum is a member of the myxomycetes class, commonly known as a plasmodial or true slime mold. It is a unicellular organism that goes through different phases in its evolutionary process. Here, we can see it in the first stage of its development, in which it is able to expand itself by multiple branches, creating a complex tubular network capable of displacing itself at an average speed of one centimetre per hour. Even if devoid of a nervous system, it is able to move intelligently, deviating from obstacles and learning to choose the shortest way toward its goal. In the final step of its life, P. Polycephalum gains a sporulated form, becoming very similar to a fungus.

Here, Ophélie Queffurus presents the contradictions of this living organism in the position of a pet, a defenceless creature that needs to be taken care of by a human embodiment that will end up killing it. These solid hands will outlive the myxomycete, who even if temporarily kept away from queer foreign specimen and strong light, cannot help being contaminated by the environment and does not stand a chance of surviving much longer.