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Cover image.jpg — InterCultural Pollination of the Present

Seeds suspended in time

In InterCultural Pollination of the Present, Paul Chartrand shows how a small living time capsule/reliquary is composed of several layers that relate to the mutually effectual culinary activities of humans and bees.

A wooden container engraved with botanical illustrations carries a blown glass vessel. This vessel contains a variety of plant seeds from culinary herbs that are specifically chosen for their desirability to bees for pollination. The seeds are suspended in pure, unpasteurised honey; which acts as a preserving agent. In the early summer of 2019, this project along with several others around the world was chosen for a one day Agri-Cultures/Seed.Links exhibition in Longyearbyen, Svalbard before being interred permanently in the original global seed vault located nearby. Inside the abandoned coal mine the old vault lies within, a growing archive of contemporary artwork (The Svalbard Seed Cultures Ark) acts as a cultural tangent to the biological seed archive that exists adjacently in the same mountain.

Medium: Culinary herb seeds, unpasteurised honey, hand blown glass, wood, polycarbonate, chlorophyll ink, pyrography

Year: 2019

Artists prior to depositing work in the seed vault mountain

Detail of hand blown glass vessel prior to filling with honey and seeds

Paul Chartrand filling vessel with honey and seeds

About the Artist

Paul Chartrand is a Canadian artist working with constructed habitats built from found objects and integrated living components. He finds inspiration in the blurry definitions of culture and nature; intending for his work to foster dialogue regarding this problematic dichotomy. Paul completed his Master of Fine Arts (Western University 2017) for which he earned Ontario Graduate Scholarships and SSHRC funding. His exhibition history includes Xpace Cultural Centre (Toronto), Younger Than Beyonce Gallery (Toronto), Boarding House Gallery (Guelph), Artlab and Satellite Gallery(London), Idea Exchange (Cambridge), CAFKA Biennial (Kitchener), Art Mur (Montreal) Y+ Contemporary (Scarborough), Expression Orange Biennial (St. Hyacinthe) and others.