Archiving Eden: Exchange
Dornith Doherty’s outdoor, interactive art installation at the Los Angeles Arboretum
ARCADIA, Calif., August 22, 2024 — Archiving Eden: Exchange by Dornith Doherty is an interactive outdoor installation designed to engage the public and inspire care for the environment. The 12 ft square structure with transparent walls is adorned with 5,000 colorful X-ray images of California native wildflower seeds. During seed exchange events, the public is invited to take one of the seed images from the wall and replace it with a glassine bag containing one California native seed provided by the Theodore Payne Foundation for Wildflowers and Native Plants. Over time, the installation changes both physically and visually as viewers collaborate to create a living seed bank.
The exhibit, curated by Shirley Watts of Natural Discourse, includes sixteen large images from Doherty’s ongoing photo series Archiving Eden: The Vaults. These stunning images of the interior spaces of seed banks all over the world reveal their role in preservation efforts in the face of climate change, the extinction of natural species, and decreased agricultural diversity.
“Entwined in the narratives of my lifetime is a deep-seated anxiety about the acute gravity of climate change, diminishing biodiversity, and the possibility that we may not be able to retreat from the brink. When I read that a Doomsday Vault—a modern-day ark for plants—had been built near the North Pole, I became determined to photograph it. Two years later, I crossed the threshold into the icy cavern containing a comprehensive catalogue of life. “ —Dornith Doherty from Archiving Eden (Schilt Publishing 2017)
When: September 9 – November 17, 2024
Time: 9am-5pm; Monday-Sunday
Where: Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden
301 North Baldwin Avenue Arcadia, CA 91007 www.arboretum.org
Tickets: $15 general admission; Arboretum members free
Artist Dornith Doherty’s Archiving Eden: Exchange September 9 -November 17; 9am-5pm. An interactive outdoor installation designed to engage the public and inspire care for the environment. A 12 ft square structure with transparent walls is hung with 5,000 colorful X-ray images of California native wildflower seeds. LA County Arboretum & Botanic Garden, 301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia, CA. General admission $15; Arboretum members free. Tickets at arboretum.org.
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