Erica Seccombe

ISEA2013

Erica Seccombe, a 2010 recipient of Synapse, ANAT, is currently a PhD candidate at the Australian National University School of Art, where she is undertaking a practice-led research project GROW: visualising nature at nanoscale, in collaboration with the ANU Department of Applied Mathematics. Her research explores the possibilities of visualising kinetic volumetric data through the science of microcomputed X-ray tomography, and her work is focused on capturing in 4D the process of germination of agricultural seeds from embryo to first leaf stage. Her primary interest in contemporary technologies is in the innovative processes for observing microscopic material, and how this increasing comparative scale continues to offer us a unique perspective from which to reflect as observers, creating new meanings for ourselves across time and circumstance. Her intention for this project is to allow an audience to experience seed propagation on a scale that is enlarged well beyond the proportions of the original, natural process. The premise of propagating crop seeds is to consider contemporary questions surrounding the comparative values between perceived natural and artificially cultivated food sources, particularly in the context of the current concerns regarding global food security and the sustainability of agriculture.