University of North Texas

@ UNT on the Square, 109 N. Elm St, Denton, TX 76201

In Vault, Dornith Doherty explores the role of seed banks and their preservation efforts in the face of climate change, the extinction of natural species and decreased agricultural diversity. Doherty photographed at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway, and also used on-site x-ray equipment at the National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation in Fort Collins, Colorado, and at the Millennium Seed Bank, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Wakehurst Place in Sussex, England to photograph seeds and cloned plants from those facilities' extensive storage vaults.

The archival pigment prints in the exhibition include the seed and plant x-rays as well as documentary photographs of the spaces and technology of the seed banks to evoke tensions between storage and dispersal, and reproduction and extinction. The digital chromogenic lenticular prints include collaged x-ray images of seeds in blue, green and brown backgrounds that shift in color and shape - hologram-like - as the viewer moves past. Made with the support of the University of North Texas Institute of the Advancement for the Arts Fellowship, this work questions the complex philosophical, anthropological, and ecological issues surrounding the role of science, technology, and human agency in the context of seed banks.

Opening Reception will be held Nov 18th from 5:30 to 8:00 at UNT on the Square


Hours: Mon –Wed 9-5; Thurs 9-8, Sat 11-3 (closed for lunch from 12-1)