Corn Diversity (2010)
Dornith Doherty was born in Houston, TX and received a B.A. from Rice University and a MFA in Photography from Yale University. She currently resides in Southlake, TX and is a Professor of Photography at the University of North Texas. A collection of Doherty’s work entitled Stockpile is currently being exhibited at the Holly Johnson Gallery in Dallas, TX from November 19th to December 23rd. About her series Archiving Eden Doherty writes:
‘Since 2008 I’ve worked in an ongoing collaboration with renowned biologists at two of the most comprehensive international seed banks in the world: the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service’s National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation in Colorado, and the Millennium Seed Bank, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in England. In this era of climate change and declining biodiversity, by collecting, researching seed biology, and storing seeds in secure 0º F vaults, seed banks play a vital role in ensuring the survival of genetic diversity in wild and agricultural species.
Utilizing the archives’ on-site x-ray equipment that is routinely used for viability assessments of accessioned seeds, I document and subsequently collage the seeds and tissue samples stored in these crucial collections. The amazing visual power of magnified x-ray images, which springs from the technology’s ability to record what is invisible to the human eye, illuminates my considerations not only of the complex philosophical, anthropological, and ecological issues surrounding the role of science and human agency in relation to gene banking, but also of the poetic questions about life and time on a macro and micro scale. I am struck by the power of these tiny plantlets and seeds (many are the size of a grain of sand) to generate life and to endure the timespan central to the process of seed banking, which seeks to make these sparks last for two hundred years or more.
The black and white photographs are presented as archival pigment on paper. Lenticular animations created from the collages present still-life images of an archive that appears to change color or move when viewed from different angles. This tension between stillness and change reflects my focus on the elusive goal of stopping time in relation to living materials, which at some moment, we may all like to do’.
Pine Cone (2010)
Disseminate
Husk Corn (Landrace)
Verdant Ring
Millennium Seed Bank Research Seedlings and Lochner-Stuppy Test Garden (2011)
Whip It
Sunflowers
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Dornith’s photos are graceful and poignant. As a photographer and a passionate gardener, I appreciate the wonder found in nature’s forms, and in the power contained within humble seeds. I’m also a big fan of seed banking. What a thrill it must be to combine artistic photography with noble efforts to preserve genetic heritage of crucial seed resources.