Final Update

 

Seed to Seed has finally come to an end after 2 year, 2 separated trips to India a lot of support from Arts Council England and other  people and organisations I worked with including Navdanya in India, Flow Associates, Fabrica Gallery, ONCA Gallery and The Millennium Seed Bank in the UK and also Becky Edmunds, Wendy Pye and Tim Brown  who were always there to help with questions, doubts and teething problems along the way.

I was able to produce a really satisfying exhibition where all the work finally came together. The AMI piece was projected onto a purpose build screen two meters wide at the center of ONCA Gallery, whilst I opted to produce a lightbox which contained all of the prints I initially thought I would print and frame separately. I enjoyed working with seeds, seedlings and plants grown from the materials I brought back from India.  I strongly feel this brought all the ideas of belonging and Indian communities together and worked as a strong metaphor which explained the idea of different communities developing differently in different environments.

A part from the artifacts and objects, I was ecstatic to have had the possibility to work with people and to have been able to create work with them. I worked with families and individuals in the UK and in India to talk and discuss their ideas of belonging to a place, to a community or to a family and how this informs their identity in different ways.

I hope to continue working in this direction and to produce more similar work. In the meantime I am submitting the AMI piece to as many Film Festivals as possible to get the piece the most visability possible.

Thank you all for participating.

Below is some feedback from people who saw the exhibition.

”Enjoyed the exhibition the conversation with the artist. Seeds are an apt metaphor for identity and beautifully realised in this installation.

“Very interesting, inspiring and moving – made me think about my roots – and Seedy Sunday”

“What an exquisite representation! I’ve a family link to India and to farming; as well as a keen interest in gardening. Video link please!”

“Good to know we are all seeing our “belonging” in land, Earth. Great Chat”

“Really interesting and thought provoking. I will now go to sit beneath a tree to consider my own feelings of belonging. Integrating nature’s journey to flourish outdoor with our cultural life.”

“Be good to hear about more exhibitions”; “very interesting and inspiring!” and “Very inspirational work”

“I really liked your film- beautifully filmed and put together very thoughtfully.

I’m so glad I dropped in when I did. It was a privilege to be able to sing to the seeds.

The seeds you gave me are doing well (lentil and papaya) and they remind me of your work. I hope I can do something in my small way to keep seeds and local plants in my garden using permaculture and organic methods.” Jenny

“Thanks very much, Lorenza. I really love your sessions and will always come along if I can. I well remember the very first one I attended, when we exchanged conversation with your parents and friends in Italy – very groundbreaking, and thoroughly enjoyable, whilst including a serious interest in older people!” Valerie

 

 

 

Seed to Seed Artist Moving Image Piece

Opening Night

Wow! So many people turned up, more than sixty!

Thank you to everybody for making it a really unforgettable night.

Thank you to all the participants from the workshop who managed to make it. I know you have really busy lives.

Below is a link to a picture gallery, enjoy.

http://client.francescamoore.co.uk/140606_SeedToSeed_PV_WEB/

 

Exhibition Installation

The installation of the show is now complete. Here are some pictures of the exhibition in it’s entirety.

Namely it includes a video projected onto a purposely build screen, a photographic light box installation representing x-rayed seeds and finally the same seeds which have been x-rayed have been sprouted and displayed in a living and growing installation on plinth around the gallery.

The Editing Process

I have been editing since the beginning of May now; and it’s starting to feel like a psychoanalytical process. I am constantly – day and night – thinking about the meaning of what these sequences of images, words and sounds are conveying; trying to keep it true to what the participants of the workshop have said and trying to understand what I want to say with the piece.

What I am trying to say with this piece?

I have asked myself this question too many times and I can no longer see clearly. I have gone into the molecular fabric of this footage and can no long distinguish it from other questions I carry with me. What is this piece about? What is belonging about?

Why have I traveled so far? Why India? Why seeds? What is the connection?

Please enjoy some film still.

Into The Seed

It was a full days work at the Millennium Seed Bank last week, we arrived at 9:00am and left at 6:00pm. We took footage of drying seeds, seeds with husks and chaff, unhusked seeds, x-rayed seeds, germinating seeds, seedlings, more seedlings, the vault, seeds being put in a room at minus -20 •c and  a plant grown from a  two hundred year old seed.

Wolfgang accompanied us through the day leaving us to get on with it, but magically appearing when we needed him. I would also like to thank all the people who gave us a hand during the day, including some very patient volunteers who were constantly interrupted by us wanting more footage.

Thanks to my “detailed” storyboard (please refer to previous post) and my planning notes, we quickly identified what we were interested in and set up. Fran was great with the camera, together we manged to capture some great footage.

Following my visit to the Millennium Seed Bank, I have been ordering and classifying all the material for editing, which is most of the job. I’ve already done some of the editing, but this new material will really help make the final piece.

Now comes the moment where I shut everything out for at least one/two days a week and work on the connection between seed keepers in India and Indian communities in Brighton. I am going to work on answering questions such as how does belonging change when you can’t refer back to the land as a place of origin?

What does belonging mean for displaced communities? Amongst other questions.

Thank you for following.

One Handmade Storyboard

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I have been working on my shoot plan, a very dry piece of scribblings, for a couple of days now; to try to make the process more enjoyable I have sketched my way through it. With undoubtedly very bad drawings, I have tried to image what type of images/footage I hope to get during my day at the Millennium Seed Bank next week.

I am planning to have 12 different situations that coincide, partly, with the different stages the seeds go through before they are frozen in the vault, but also footage in the labs where scientist and volunteers work with seed to understand better how they work and if they are ripe and health specimens. In the germination lab, in particular, batches of seeds are tested to see how long they take to germinate and under what conditions.  Wolfgang told me this last time I was there.

Back to the drawing board for some more planning.

I am extremely exited about this opportunity, working with their x-ray machine to see what seeds look like from inside.

Millennium Seed Bank Visit

I have just come back from the Millennium Seed Bank where I had a very pleasant and itinerant meeting with Wolfgang Stuppy, seed morphologist, about shooting in April. Wolfgang was very helpful and it’s great to be able to work with him and the Millennium Seed Bank.

Unfortunately, the images are from the greenhouses just outside the seed bank owing to the fact I was too busy marveling and talking to take pictures. Although I will have more images later in the week.

So going back to the visit, Wolfgang took us through all the stages the seeds go through when they first arrive at Millennium Seed Bank From drying to freezing at -20 degrees Celsius.

As soon as the seeds arrive from various countries they get put in a first drying room, then they get cleaned and x-rayed to make sure there aren’t any parasites inside. After that a proportion goes to the Curation Lab  where they get tested in various ways and some germinated to make sure the batch is health.

Finally the seeds get taken down to the vault, go through a second drying process to make sure they are properly dry, stored in glass jars and then frozen at minus -20. Roughly speaking this is what happens to the seeds before they can get preserved for posterity.

For the rest of today I will be working on a shooting plan. I have divided the plan into 11 areas that will correspondent to 11/12 different shots.

One of the most touching things I saw today was a plant grown from a 200 year-old seed that was found in a Dutchman’s wallet archived somewhere in the UK.  Just reminds me how much seeds are a symbol of hope  and resilience.

 

 

 

Seed to Seed Part II – 18th March at Fabrica Gallery

Here are some pictures of the event.

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Thank you to all for coming last Tuesday, the conversation was very interesting and it was good to understand a bit better what it means to make a home in a different culture.

We started by looking at seeds that are used in everyday life such as cumin seeds, coriander seeds, chickpeas, lentils, papaya seeds, black pepper amongst others. We also shared food and enjoyed each others company.

I am waiting to hear back from you to add your thoughts and idea to the blog.

About the Workshop

I am very exited about Seed to Seed workshop taking place on Tuesday. The workshop is packed with activities and themes to discuss, so this is just a quick reminder  to refresh your memory about why it is happening. Please be punctual as there is a lot to cover and remember I will be filming and recording the event.

I have been awarded an Arts Council grant to produce an artist film that explores ideas of seed keeping and agriculture heritage in local and global communities, from India to UK.

During this event I wish to continue the conversation about belonging to place and community, but also to draw out ideas about the links between plant heritage and social ecologies of place, which will be further explored in an ecology workshop ar ONCA Gallery.

We will be using seeds I gathered in India as well as conversations I had  with people to  talk about the participants’ experience of making a home in a culture different from their own.

Some participants have very kindly offered to bring food, so we can share it during the event.

Thank you look forward to Tuesday.