Christina Battle
seeds are meant to disperse, 2015 - ongoing
seeds are meant to disperse (2015-ongoing) is an ongoing project where I grow, save and share seeds. Seeds take time to grow, to harvest, to prepare, and to share—an act that I see as gift as much as necessity and survival. As such, the seeds are offered as barter or gift, in an attempt to encourage and support alternative systems of exchange. As the seeds are gifted and grown they are meant to help others begin to build a world different from the trajectory it is currently on.
As an ongoing and forever growing project, I continue to adapt and rethink strategies as the work strives to be more aware of itself: of the ways in which it might help draw attention to food security & sustainability, species diversification, seed copyright, climate change, urban renewal, and anti-capitalist forms of exchange. Seeds are meant to disperse.
Through seeds and their dispersal, seeds are meant to disperse actively thinks about both time and space differently, considering ecological change from the scale of the geologic and political change from the scale of the micro gesture. Preparing seed packs each year to be traded and shared, the project is documented and archived on social media as a way to meet and engage with others interested in plants and alternate forms of exchange. To date, I have received a number of trades for the seed packs including artist books, sculptures, jewelry, photographs, as well as other seeds.
seeds are meant to disperse includes not only seeds but also a number of zines, essays and tangential works. It has propelled and sits at the centre of a number of participatory projects including: In the Garden [2018], Reclaiming the Invisible [2019], Ishtar’s International Network of Feral Gardens with SAVAC [2020, presently], and connecting through grasses [2020, in progress]. [http://cbattle.com/seeds-are-meant-to-disperse/]
Image Description & Additional Information
Seed pack image. On the left is four alternating hexagons, on the right is a black hexagon that says “HEX SEED PACKS” Underneath the text reads “*pack contains 1 or more seeds saved from organically grown produce from the 2017 &/or 2018 &/or 2019 seasons. I don’t always follow the rules & sometimes am kinda lazy (seeds are not guaranteed to produce)” Image courtesy of the artist.
Multicoloured seed packets laid on top of each other. Image courtesy of the artist.
Picking through seeds - a pile of brown seeds on a a white sheet of parchment paper. the seeds are interspersed with branches and stems. Image courtesy of the artist.
Sunflowers - sunflowers sprouting up, facing towards a blue sky. Green stems and yellow flowers. Image courtesy of the artist.
Reclaim - A page that shows two images of sunflowers. Underneath is the text “Common Sunflower - Helianthus annuus. Sunflowers are hyper accumulators capable of taking up a number of toxins from the earth including:Arsenic, Cadmium, Chromium, Copper, Lead, Manganese, Nickel, Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB), and Zinc. Sunflowers were planted to help absorb radioactive caesium after both the Chernobyl (1986) and Fukushima (2011) nuclear accidents. Common sunflower is widely distributed, found from hardiness zones 2 through 11. They prefer full sun, are drought tolerant, low maintenance, and are not picky about soil (although they prefer well-drained). Sunflowers are a pre-settlement species and can be found across Alberta. Plant in the spring after risk of frost.” Image courtesy of the artist.
Yoko ono combo image - a seed back with the same design. On the left side, underneath the hexagons, the text reads “Mixed Flowers for SAVAC’s 2020 Ishtar’s International Network of Feral Gardens.” On the right side it reads “On the full moon of May 7th, let’s perform Yoko Ono’s PAINTING FOR THE WIND together: Cut a hole in a bag filled with seeds of any kind and place the bag where there is wind. (1961 summer).” Image courtesy of the artist.
Documentation from Today in the news more black and brown brown bodies traumatized the soil is toxic the air is poison, series of large scale billboards, 2018. Image: Toni Hafkenscheid, Courtesy Blackwood Gallery.
Christina Battle (Edmonton, Canada) has a B.Sc. with specialization in Environmental Biology from the University of Alberta, a certificate in Film Studies from Ryerson University, an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute, and a PhD in Art & Visual Culture from the University of Western Ontario. Her research and artistic work consider the parameters of disaster; looking to it as action, as more than mere event and instead as a framework operating within larger systems of power. Through this research she imagines how disaster could be utilized as a tactic for social change and as a tool for reimagining how dominant systems might radically shift. She has exhibited internationally in festivals and galleries as both artist and curator, most recently at: Latitude 53 (Edmonton), The John & Maggie Mitchell Gallery (Edmonton), Harbourfront Centre (Toronto), Capture Photography Festival (Vancouver); Forum Expanded at the Berlinale (Berlin), Blackwood Gallery (Mississagua), Trinity Square Video (Toronto), Untitled Art Society (Calgary), 8-11 (Toronto), Nuit Blanche Toronto; Studio XX (Montreal), Le Centre des arts actuels Skol as part of Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal (Montreal), Thames Art Gallery (Chatham, ON), Casa Maauad (Mexico City); and SOMArts (San Francisco).