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Spring is for Planting Seeds – And Learning about their Origins

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Commonstrust: artists and the commons, on view in Thacher Gallery in Gleeson Library through April 10, presents six artists whose works interweave essential elements of the commons: ecology, culture, and trust. 

Connie Zheng, Routes/Roots, 2021, Mixed media on silkscreen and cyanotype print

Among these artworks is “Routes/Roots,” a large world map by artist Connie Zheng. Early on in her ambitious, multi-layered project exploring seeds, Zheng reached out to the USF Seed Library to explore collaborations. Seed librarians Debbie Benrubi and Carol Spector and Environmental Studies professor David Silver provided the artist with advice about seeds that would grow locally, and where to obtain them. The USF folks were excited to see ideas and resources they had discussed embodied in “Routes/Roots”. Now featured in Commonstrust, “Routes/Roots” is appropriately located adjacent to the Seed Library, visible to anyone visiting the Seed Library, and part of programming that includes David Silver’s Food/Culture/Storytelling class.

Detail of Routes/Roots

Created by applying mixed media onto silk screen and cyanotype print, the map is unique in many ways. Working against the typical Mercator map which inaccurately enlarges the land masses near the poles, the continents on Zheng’s map are truer to scale. The white lines circumnavigating the Atlantic Ocean trace the paths of seeds from their origins to the many lands where they are now cultivated and consumed. Drawing from what the artist refers to as diasporic memory, the map makes us aware of the places and cultures that call these plants native. In addition, the map informs us of the human forces—trade, slavery, colonialism, and imperialism—behind plant migration.

The next time you visit the seed library, stop by Zheng’s “Routes/Roots” to discover the history about some of these seeds.

The Thacher Gallery and USF’s Seed Library have collaborated throughout the year. Join the gallery and Connie Zheng for an artist talk and seed making workshop on Tuesday, Mar. 22, 4:30 p.m., Thacher Gallery. Co-hosted by Thacher Gallery, the Environmental Studies program, and the USF Seed Library.

Co-written by Debbie Benrubi and Glori Simmons