Stephanie Valentin - Pollinate

The images in pollinate are initially baffling. Most people would not recognise these extraordinary images as microscopic plant pollen. Even if they did, they would do a double-take at the words and markings engraved onto the surface of the specimens. In pollinate Valentin takes the viewer into the microscopic realm of the natural world. She introduces us to a physical and psychological landscape open to the imprint of human desire, reason and imagination. It is a realm outside the minds of most since it can only be seen through a miscroscope. Yet despite it going largely unnoticed, we might all be implicated in this changing 'landscape' by our desires and appetites as consumers. pollinate offers a potent and poetic reminder of the ecological and cultural implications of scientific endeavours.