Eirik Johnson
The Mushroom Camps
archival pigment prints
24 x 30 inches, edition of 10
37 x 45 inches, edition of 5
47 x 57 inches, edition of 5
Eirik Johnson, Abandoned shack H, mushroom camp near Sisters, Oregon, 2011
Eirik Johnson, Joy and his daughter Belinda with a matsutake in the Deschutes National Forest, Oregon, 2011
Eirik Johnson, Abandoned shack A, Crescent Lake mushroom camp, Oregon, 2011
Eirik Johnson, Somphone picking matsutake mushrooms among the pine trees, Deschutes National Forest, Oregon, 2011
Eirik Johnson, Mushroom camp on the outskirts of Chemult, Oregon, 2011
Eirik Johnson, Phet and Pawn outside their shack at a camp near Sisters, Oregon, 2011
Eirik Johnson, Ken and Brandon in a mushroom camp near Sisters, Oregon, 2011
Eirik Johnson, Spring boletes, mushroom camp near Sisters, Oregon, 2011
Eirik Johnson, Somphone with his dog Whiskey outside their shack in the Crescent Lake mushroom camp, Oregon, 2011
Eirik Johnson, SUV and shack at a mushroom camp near the Sierra Cascade Pumice Mine, Oregon, 2011
Eirik Johnson, Inside Somphone’s shack, Crescent Lake mushroom camp, Oregon, 2011
Eirik Johnson, Abandoned shack E, Crescent Lake mushroom camp, Oregon, 2011
Eirik Johnson, Roadside mushroom buyer along the outskirts of Chemult, Oregon, 2011
Eirik Johnson, Morgan, Dawn, and Jon at their mushroom camp near Sisters, Oregon, 2011
Eirik Johnson, Abandoned shack B, Crescent Lake mushroom camp, Oregon, 2011
Eirik Johnson, Foraged ginseng, Crescent Lake mushroom camp, Oregon, 2011
Eirik Johnson, Abandoned shack 3, mushroom camp near Sisters, Oregon, 2011
Eirik Johnson, Jesus, Jose, Herbert and David at their mushroom camp near Chemult, Oregon, 2011
Eirik Johnson, Phet drying bolete and morel mushrooms in his drying shack, near Sisters, Oregon, 2011
Eirik Johnson, Shack interior, Crescent Lake mushroom camp, Oregon, 2011
Eirik Johnson, Karaoke, Crescent Lake mushroom camp, Oregon, 2011
Eirik Johnson, Bam Bam, Crescent Lake mushroom camp, Oregon, 2011
Eirik Johnson, Joy, Crescent Lake mushroom camp, Oregon, 2011
Eirik Johnson, Candy inside the noodle house, mushroom camp outside of Chemult, Oregon, 2011
Eirik Johnson, Leo buying matsutake mushrooms in Stubby’s Fuel Stop, Chemult, Oregon, 2011
Eirik Johnson, Rick and Leo buying matsutake mushrooms in Stubby’s Fuel Stop, Chemult, Oregon, 2011
Eirik Johnson, Dawn and Tim with boletes they picked at a camp near Sisters, Oregon, 2011
Eirik Johnson, Abandoned shack C, Crescent Lake mushroom camp, Oregon, 2011
The Mushroom Camps
In the forests of Oregon’s Cascade Mountains, commercial mushroom hunters erect makeshift campsites among the high country Lodgepole and Ponderosa Pine. These seasonal mushroom hunts (morels and boletes in the spring, matsutake and chanterelles in the fall) draw together a uniquely American mix of Southeast Asian multi-generational families, rural counter culture folks, and Mexican migrant laborers.
Many of those hunting mushrooms have lost or can no longer depend on once stable employment and have in turn, sought out a living through the global demand for foraged mushrooms. Others temporarily leave their day jobs to spend a few months each year out on the hunt. A former military commander from Laos, a nail salon owner from Stockton, and a runaway from Portland are just a few of those who have made their way to the dusty camps to search for mushrooms amongst the pine needles.
They build shacks from tree branches, twine, plastic tarps, and empty rice bags and for two to three months the mushroom hunters call these camps home. The forests are dotted with the skeletal outlines of abandoned shacks, weathered branches offering a faint reminder of a home from a previous hunt.