Seeds: time capsules of life

Abstract

Pollen was recognised as a benchmark for art and science collaboration amongst botanists at Kew and laid the ground for further publications. Seeds, produced together with Dr. Wolfgang Stuppy a seed morphologist from the Millennium Seed Bank, Wakehurst Place, is a response to this opportunity for artistic research to make a unique contribution to the understanding and appreciation of an organism vital to the preservation of bio-diversity. Alongside a scientific text by Stuppy, tracing the evolution of seeds and the many morphological characteristics they have evolved to ensure efficient dispersal I developed an extensive collection of macro and micro coloured photographic images to reveal the seeds as powerful phytomorphic motifs. Focussing particularly on small seeds (below 4mm) the use of a new digital scanning electron micrography enabled the production of extremely high-resolution images, which reveal complex and diverse surface structures. Extending the canon of botanical representation I examine the contrasting representational modes for depicting plants that distinguish the individual approach of artists, scientists and illustrators and challenge the orthodoxies of conventional representation. Employing artistic modes of visualisation in this pioneering way I was able to reveal forms and functions of the seed structures which pushes forward the impact that the work has on both scientific and art and design communities. In a further essay on the way in which plant structures have long provided an example and template for architectural form, from Vitruvius to Nicholas Grimshaw’s Eden Project, I extend this principal further through the comparison of contemporary architectural form with seed structures. In 2006 I was elected as a fellow of the Linnaean Society for my contribution in the field and in 2007 the book was awarded a gold medal at the Independent Publishers Awards in New York, for the most innovative concept of the year.