Seed (Inner Landscape) (2022)

"Seed (Inner Landscape)" is composed of microscopic video footage (at different optical scales) of the seeds of different plant species (particularly of food crops that are used for human nutrition) that are currently at risk of extinction. Biodiversity loss represents a great threat to global food security and a loss of resilience against the exacerbated challenges that we will be facing in the future. As the video slowly pans through the “integument” of these seeds, we get a closer and closer view at this outermost protective layer — a skin (much like our own) that is meant to act as a protective barrier between the external environment and the internal environment stored within.

The video is accompanied by audio that slowly moves through different sound frequencies that are audible to humans. An algorithmic editing technique is used for the low hum of these changing sound frequencies to control visual elements in the video (such as speed, exposure and focus). The connection established between what we are seeing and hearing, tries to create a space for the contemplation of different forms of protection (both physical and non-physical) that are available to human and non-human beings alike; especially in a planet in which the external environment is becoming increasingly hostile to all forms of life.

The work is inspired by research on the effects that sound has on plant growth and behavior (plant bioacoustics) and particularly on recent studies of the potential of applying specific sound frequencies to elongate the viability (and thus allow for longer term conservation) of seeds. This premise does not sound too far reaching; considering the traditional use of sound as a form of therapy, for healing and protecting human bodies in different cultures around the world.

The work attempts to explore the multi-scalar entanglements between human, non-human and planetary health; through the close examination of seeds and the potential for life stored within them.