Through the fascinating formal beauty of seeds revealed by Thierry Ardouin's photographs, the book tells the history of these "great travellers" and interrogates the connection with our roots. Based on an original idea initiated by Xavier Barral, it is the result of a long-term collective project involving artists, botanists and scientists and falling within current ecological issues.
Chosen, lit and framed with the greatest care, the seeds photographed by Thierry Ardouin have a morphology that is both necessary and strange, capable of arousing astonishment, questioning or contemplation. From the emergence of agriculture more than 10,000 years ago to the questions raised by today’s hybrid seeds, via the discovery of the uses of seeds acrosscultures and eras, Seed stories explores the challenges of diversity. Most of these seeds come from the collections of the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris, these wild or cultivate seeds from all over the world fascinate us with their formal beauty: colours, textures, shapes, appearances, they capture our attention and question our perceptions. Several essays complete the photographic corpus by Thierry Ardouin.
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Link to the video bookflip
Two versions: English and French
Hardcover, 19 x 25 cm
336 pages
253 colour photographs
Texts
- Marion Chartier, researcher in evolutionary biology at the University of Vienna, Austria
- Charlotte Fauve, landscape engineer and journalist
- Gilles Clément, gardener, landscaper and botanist
- Serge Bahuchet, ethnobotanist at Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, Paris
- Thierry Ardouin, photographer of Tendance Floue collective
- José-Manuel Gonçalvès, director of the Centquatre-Paris
Drawings
Emmanuelle Bouffé
Copublished with MNHN, Paris
Exhibition
Graines, l’exposition !
Petit précipité subjectif d’une histoire des graines
CENTQUATRE-PARIS, France
June 18 – September 4, 2022
This publication has received the support of
la DRAC
la Région Île de France