In a former tsarist palace in what is now St. Petersburg, botanist Nikolaï Vavilov (1887–1943), predicting the disappearance of plant biodiversity, built the world’s first seed bank. A living museum, the Vavilov Institute hosts roughly 330,000 specimens and stands as a monument to its creator—a scientist who devoted his life to food security and died of starvation, a political scapegoat in the basement of a Soviet prison. One hundred years after Vavilov’s first specimen-collecting expedition, Swiss photographer Mario Del Curto (born 1955) retraces the botanist’s steps and meets the people who continue his work, seeking, selecting and preserving the planet’s plant species. Part meditation on the scope of Vavilov’s work and part travelogue into the heart of the Vavilov Institute and its 12 satellite stations, Seeds of the Earth is a beautiful and urgent meditation on food security, ecology and history.
Featured image is reproduced from 'Mario Del Curto: Seeds of the Earth.'
in stock $49.00
Free Shipping
UPS GROUND IN THE CONTINENTAL U.S. FOR CONSUMER ONLINE ORDERS
Between 1916 and 1940, Soviet botanist Nikolai Vavilov traveled the world, collecting plant specimens. In 1923, he became the director of the Pan-Russian Research Institute for Plant Production, building the world's first seed bank in a former tsarist palace in current-day St. Petersburg. (Later, he would be condemned to death and left to starve in prison.) Today, the Vavilov Institute hosts more than 350,000 specimens, and includes twelve additional research stations. Featured photograph, by Mario Del Curto, is of herbarium specimens of 'Aegilops ovata' collected by Vavilov in Spain. It is reproduced from Del Curto's fascinating new photography collection, Seeds of the Earth: The Vavilov Institute, exquisitely produced by Actes Sud. This is a fascinating read for anyone interested in biodiversity and those who, despite overwhelming obstacles, perpetuate Vavilov's seed prospecting, selection and conservation work in order to save the planet's staple food crops. continue to blog
NEW YORK Showroom by Appointment Only 75 Broad Street, Suite 630 New York NY 10004 Tel 212 627 1999
LOS ANGELES Showroom by Appointment Only
818 S. Broadway, Suite 700 Los Angeles, CA 90014 Tel. 323 969 8985
ARTBOOK LLC D.A.P. | Distributed Art Publishers, Inc.
All site content Copyright C 2000-2017 by Distributed Art Publishers, Inc. and the respective publishers, authors, artists. For reproduction permissions, contact the copyright holders.
The D.A.P. Catalog www.artbook.com
Distributed by D.A.P.
FORMAT: Hbk, 8.5 x 12.5 in. / 320 pgs / 200 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $49.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $65 ISBN: 9782330079055 PUBLISHER: Actes Sud AVAILABLE: 2/27/2018 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: NA LA ASIA AU/NZ AFR
Mario Del Curto: Seeds of the Earth The Vavilov Institute
Published by Actes Sud.
In a former tsarist palace in what is now St. Petersburg, botanist Nikolaï Vavilov (1887–1943), predicting the disappearance of plant biodiversity, built the world’s first seed bank. A living museum, the Vavilov Institute hosts roughly 330,000 specimens and stands as a monument to its creator—a scientist who devoted his life to food security and died of starvation, a political scapegoat in the basement of a Soviet prison. One hundred years after Vavilov’s first specimen-collecting expedition, Swiss photographer Mario Del Curto (born 1955) retraces the botanist’s steps and meets the people who continue his work, seeking, selecting and preserving the planet’s plant species. Part meditation on the scope of Vavilov’s work and part travelogue into the heart of the Vavilov Institute and its 12 satellite stations, Seeds of the Earth is a beautiful and urgent meditation on food security, ecology and history.
