How like a leaf I am
2018 – 2024
2018 – 2024
In
How like a leaf I am Alexandra Baumgartner explores seeds as cultural
heritage and common good – a resource shaped and handed down through
generations by both human and non-human influences.
Observing, selecting, nurturing, protecting, tasting, sorting, storing, exchanging and reseeding are the driving forces behind the diversity of cultivated plants. Wandering through the gardens of private seed keepers and visiting state and community-run seed banks, Baumgartner collects encounters and stories shared around seeds that are meticulously preserved for the future.
To think seeds is to think in cycles. A seed is simultaneously all the plants that have grown before and all those that will follow. In the cultivated plant lies the embodied relationship between humans and nature.
Seeds constitute the basis of our existence. From infinitely small grains, crops grow to be processed into food, textile fibres, fuel, medicines and cosmetics. The standardisation of farming systems and a growing concentration in the seed market has led to a situation where today only 30 crops provide 95% of our food energy. About 75 per cent of all agricultural crops and varieties have disappeared in the last hundred years.
Convinced that only an emotional bond with the plant world can spark transformative change, Baumgartner's work reflects a quest to conspire with plants. Oscillating between intensive research and introspective observation, How like a leaf I am portrays gestures of resistance against the ongoing loss of cultivated biodiversity.
Observing, selecting, nurturing, protecting, tasting, sorting, storing, exchanging and reseeding are the driving forces behind the diversity of cultivated plants. Wandering through the gardens of private seed keepers and visiting state and community-run seed banks, Baumgartner collects encounters and stories shared around seeds that are meticulously preserved for the future.
To think seeds is to think in cycles. A seed is simultaneously all the plants that have grown before and all those that will follow. In the cultivated plant lies the embodied relationship between humans and nature.
Seeds constitute the basis of our existence. From infinitely small grains, crops grow to be processed into food, textile fibres, fuel, medicines and cosmetics. The standardisation of farming systems and a growing concentration in the seed market has led to a situation where today only 30 crops provide 95% of our food energy. About 75 per cent of all agricultural crops and varieties have disappeared in the last hundred years.
Convinced that only an emotional bond with the plant world can spark transformative change, Baumgartner's work reflects a quest to conspire with plants. Oscillating between intensive research and introspective observation, How like a leaf I am portrays gestures of resistance against the ongoing loss of cultivated biodiversity.
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series
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Links
Virtual Exhibition (EN/GE) «How
like a leaf I am» at Bienneale für Aktuelle Fotografie – Changing Ecosystems, Heidelberger Kunstverein. (2022)
Interview (GE) about the project
«How like a leaf I am», Photoforum Pasquart, Biel/Bienne. (27. March 2021)
Bild der Woche (GE) «Quince and yellow tomatoes», Online-Magazine 42mm.ch (11. March 2021)
Interview #06 (GE) “Neue Perspektiven des Dokumentarischen” Podcast, 7. Lumix Festival für jungen Bildjournalismus, Hannover. (21. June 2020)
Virtual Exhibition (EN/GE) «How
like a leaf I am» at Bienneale für Aktuelle Fotografie – Changing Ecosystems, Heidelberger Kunstverein. (2022)
Interview (GE) about the project
«How like a leaf I am», Photoforum Pasquart, Biel/Bienne. (27. March 2021)
Bild der Woche (GE) «Quince and yellow tomatoes», Online-Magazine 42mm.ch (11. March 2021)
Interview #06 (GE) “Neue Perspektiven des Dokumentarischen” Podcast, 7. Lumix Festival für jungen Bildjournalismus, Hannover. (21. June 2020)
How like a leaf I am, Aterraterra LAB Palermo, 2023.
“Examine the space around you”, unglazed ceramic. 
How like a leaf I am, Aterraterra LAB Palermo, 2023.
