SEED STORIES 2025
Seed Stories initiative aims to reclaim the diverse narrative of seeds, breaking through the patriarchal monocultures. By uniting experts, seed savers and artists this project seeks to reclaim the cultural and ecological significance of native seed diversity and envision a future where seeds are seen as repositories of resilience and hope.
Seeds have more than just nourished our bodies. They have been at the very core, the building blocks of our civilizations. At the dawn of agriculture, as humanity first realized the power to cultivate and preserve resources, seeds became the silent architects of all our cultures. These tiny little capsules of life empowered us to take the giant leap from nomadic hunter-gatherers into vast empires.
However, with great power comes an even greater struggle to gain control over that power. With endless greed simmering below its surface, the industrial age turned it into a grand power play by capitalizing on this natural resource. But just as the resilience of even a single seed holds the strength to break through concrete, we believe that Seed Stories has the potential to break through the patriarchal monoculture of our seeds in agriculture as well as wild, to reclaim their rich, diverse narrative.
To shine light upon the profound significance of seed diversity through the language of art, we invite Scholars, Seed Savers and Artists from across Maharashtra to join hands in this journey of rediscovery. To not just craft a story of the revival of our native seeds but also to sprout forth the evolutionary wisdom that lies within their hard protective shell. Together, let us envision a future where seeds are not mere commodities, but living repositories of culture, resilience, and most importantly, hope.
Spatial Design by Aakriti Chandervanshi
Late Echo arose from a time, a place, and a shared daily reality of three artists in their surroundings, forced to repeatedly revisit the same space during a disparate time, echoing the transient or temporal changes observed. Reflected as a visceral response to their psychological and emotional well-being, the exhibition engages with the documentation of such transitional moments, enquiring how the space provided new perspectives on difficult pasts and how this history can inform the current times.
Mother’s Garden is a questioning of the comfort of home, and the sombreness of everyday existence. Photographed as a way to navigate through difficult times, the journey embraces the crossings of life & death, and the gestures of hope & acceptance.
Mother's Garden
by Anupam Diwan
Hundred Headscans
by Rohit Saha
To comprehend what was happening in the country and around the world through the screen gave the artist chills, making them more vulnerable and anxious. These are reports of their mental state, which have been documented from December 2020 to July 2021. Hundred Headscans are visual representations of what they have been exposed to in the entire lockdown: the screen and the artist trying to survive the chaos.
Inspired by everyday life, Fragile Fragments is a visual memoir of over half a decade documentation of a secluded village in South Goa by the artist, where she works and resides. As a therapeutic practice, she finds solace in capturing the most mundane and delicate details around her, using it to nurture herself and balance the turmoil within her, her family and the world outside.
Fragile Fragments
by Vinita Barretto
Khoj and Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan, New Delhi, in collaboration with India International Centre are pleased to announce the opening of ‘this 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 keep you warm’ – 12 curated exhibitions by the Curatorial Intensive South Asia (CISA) 2021 Fellows.
The exhibitions opened at 6:30pm, on the 15th of March, 2022
at the Kamaladevi Art Gallery — India International Centre, New Delhi.