For Dornith Doherty, Artistic Inspiration Sprouts From Seed

Following the germ of an idea, artist Dornith Doherty visited a seed bank and came away with a series of works lauding efforts to staunch biodiversity collapse

By Jennifer Wehunt // Art by Dornith Doherty
Conservation
Mar 26, 2025

ON HER MAIDEN VISIT to what is now the National Laboratory for Genetic Resources Preservation in Fort Collins, Colorado, the Dallas-based artist Dornith Doherty observed scientists using a tabletop X-ray to analyze seed viability. Taking 100 or so seeds at a time, they counted how many were empty, how many had been damaged and how many were intact. Doherty was struck by “the notion of peering inside, the amazingly poetic quest of suspended animation and living materials.” With the help of lab staff who germinate seedlings for her to photograph, Doherty began creating X-ray collages such as 2019’s “Seedling Cabinet III” (above), featuring Jeffrey pine (far left, third from top), sunflower (top right) and other samples from Fort Collins, plus varieties from the United Kingdom’s Millennium Seed Bank. To push back on the notion of stopping time—“impossible to do; things keep moving”—Doherty employs lenticular printing so that the artworks change color from green to blue as viewers pass. Today, 16 years after her first encounter, Doherty remains captivated by seed banks. “It’s doom and gloom, but it’s also kind of hopeful,” she says. Preserving seeds for potential use up to 200 years in the future may not ward off biodiversity collapse, “but at least somebody’s taking action to try to keep that from happening.” See more of Doherty's artwork.