There is mystery in seeds. Observing them unfurls the story of living organisms, fostering a reconsideration and recon-nection with a natural world that predates humankind. Their story is both a micro- and macro-journey through time and space. The first flowering trees emerged around 140 million years ago. The climatic tumults of the Tertiary Period meant adaptation and the conquest of new land was imperative. Like small cosmic capsules packed with the energy need-ed to withstand the many trials awaiting them, seeds developed travel strategies, enticing birds through colours; don-ning wings, or waterproof skins to be swept along with the waves or the breeze; layering up with hooks to grip onto fur... Through millennia, their journey has spawned a wonderful planetary diversity of plant species.
From their wild origins to their domestication and commercialization, seeds have also shaped human civilization. Their cultivation prompted Neolithic tribes to become sedentary, reshaping societal norms and landscapes. They fascinated in the classical period as study subjects; became objects for barter and collection in the Middle Ages; and travelled along-side modern explorers. Seeds circulate at the whim of agricultural, scientific, aesthetic, and commercial desires alike. The energy that plants contain transcends borders, celebrating planetary diversity through their macro-scale journeys. They reveal our intricate connection with nature, blending politics, science, and knowledge.
This exhibition is part of a decade-long project initiated in 2009 in collaboration with Xavier Barral and the France-based publisher Atelier EXB. The artist has photographed over 500 seed species from all over the world, most of which from the collection of the Muséum National d’ Histoire Naturelle in Paris. Captured using a macroscopic ste-reo magnifier designed by Olympus, and chosen and lit with the utmost care, the images reveal unsuspected forms and beauty. For this exhibition, Thierry Ardouin has produced new portraits of seeds from local Kyoto farmers who preserve
their ancestral origins. From the dawn of agriculture to the questions raised by today’ s hybrid seeds, Seed Stories presents to us anew the struggle for life in an interminably diverse world, speaking as much of our origins as the world we imagine for tomorrow.
Born in 1961, Thierry Ardouin co-founded the French collective Tendance Floue in 1991. Originally trained as a scientist, he has focused on photography since 1995, exploring the links between man and nature, favouring medium/large format cameras as a delib-erate return to a slower process. In Nada (2004), he documented the human hand’ s trace in the Spanish landscape. Farmlands (2008) delved into the back-and-forth relationship between tool and soil, nature and culture. In Seed Stories, Ardouin extends his work to the infinitely small, using scientific equipment.
