Since the dawn of agriculture we have shaped and transformed a broad number of organisms towards our needs, while at the same time promoting their survival and geographic range. Through breeding and artificial selection we have developed a seemingly infinite diversity of shapes and colors from the wild ancestors of today's domesticated plants. However, since the industrialization of agriculture our focus has shifted to only a few modern, high yielding, robust, 'good looking', uniform and predictable varieties. This change has led to the displacement of traditional crop varieties. A majority of all varieties developed by humans have already become extinct during the last 50 years. With them we not only lose genetic diversity, but also a living cultural and culinary heritage. Without growing, using and eating them, the remaining varieties may only survive in seed vaults, through the work of dedicated farmers or in our own backyards and gardens. Yet, the genetic plasticity and adaptability of these plants are of critical importance for the sustainability and security of our global future food supply.
The Cultivar Series is a continuously growing collection of photographs that reveal the mind boggling diversity of crop cultivars.

Zea mays I focuses on the diversity of maize cultivars grown before the age of industrial monocultures. For this work I visited seed banks in Tucson, Arizona and Texcoco, Mexico, and documented hundreds of specimens.

The collection of Native Seeds/SEARCH has a focus on cultivars from the Southern US and Northern Mexico, while CIMMYT's collection contains samples of maize from around the globe.

Thousands of years of selection by humans have yielded dramatic changes to corn, including non-shattering ears, more kernels, bigger cobs, more rows of kernels and greater edibility. Each region has developed its own shapes, colors, flavors, culinary and cultural uses.

The US Corn Belt, an immense area roughly the size of California, almost exclusively grows a single type of corn called yellow dent. Nearly all of the seed is genetically modified and intellectual property, controlled by the few remaining multinational corporations that rule today's seed market. Most of the harvest is turned into ethanol and animal feed to produce cheap meat in concentrated feeding operations. Just a fraction of the harvest is directed towards directly feeding people, and that in the form of sweeteners, particularly high fructose corn syrup.* This transformation of corn from a nourishing food into actual poison is reflected in the related work Suicide Soda.

Zea mays I was commissioned for the exhibition Biodesign - From Inspiration to Integration at Woods Gerry Gallery, Providence, USA, curated by William Meyers and RISD Nature Lab (2018).