©2024 Alyssa Merlini



PUB002 → Repulsive, Beautiful Fungi
Repulsive, Beautiful Fungi (2025)A zine about the human relationship with design aesthetics and sustainability.

Questioning why harmful materials are normalized and glorified in design while sustainable alternatives are often met with discomfort or disgust.
This visual essay is meant to critique the way we instinctively reject bio-based materials like mycelium and fungal by-products, despite their low environmental impact. While readily accepting plastics that pollute ecosystems and harm wildlife.
A Visual Essay, Zine
Printed at Willem de Kooning Academie, January 2025
Media: Paper, Acrylic and handmade Mossy Polypore Paper
Technique: UV print













fig. 9: “From Saint to Killer? - The Rise and Fall of Plastic.” www.zerowastelady.com, www.zerowastelady.com/uploads/7/3/2/2/73228827/environmental-problems-pollution-35-880_orig.jpg










See other work: