KATERIE GLADDYS

Associate Professor, Art + Technology
College of the Arts, School of Art and Art History
http://layoftheland.net
Forage - http://www.foragefarm.org/

Seed Cabinet

Seed libraries function as repositories of genetic diversity and local knowledge-- important as our society wrestles with food security. Seed Cabinet is a repurposed card catalog filled with seed specimens and images of local fruits and vegetables. Opening the drawers triggers the playing of video and audio narratives of our community’s lived experience of these foods: their cultivation, preparation, and history onto a monitor embedded into the top of the card catalog. Seed Cabinet has traveled to our Alachua County’s public libraries and other community venues within context of workshops on seed saving. Seed Cabinet informs and problematizes seeds, inviting the audience to reflect upon their role in global and local food systems. Seed Cabinet is a collaboration between the Southern Heritage Seed Collective which is part of the local non-for profit Working Food (formerly Forage). The goal of the project is to facilitate a discussion of how art, technology and storytelling can inspire the public to cultivate a personal relationship with local agriculture.