C-type print, 100x100cm, edition of 15

In theory some lichens are immortal, their lives are often measured in hundreds rather than tens of years. Lichen are not individual organisms but part of a symbiotic colony of fungus and algae or cyanobacteria and researchers suspect that the fungus part does not age.

It is believed that one of the causes of ageing in animals could be related to genetic mutations building up as fertility begins to taper off or because the traits that make us reproductively successful may also be slowly killing us. If scientists can figure out how lichen and fungi get around ageing there could be huge implications for human medicine and the ageing process.

There are 17 species of Lichen in this image and 17 is known as the god number, the immortal number.