Barbara Grothus, Cultural Palynology: 33 degree latitude (same Parallel)

Barbara Grothus
born 1953 Los Alamos, New Mexico; lives Albuquerque, New Mexico
Cultural Palynology: 33 degree latitude (same Parallel)

“Denudus Imperium (pollen of empire)” Babylon, 2400 BCE (top left)
“Globus Pacis (buddha pollen)” Silk Road, China, 200 CE (top right)
“Displodi Telum (gunpowder pollen)” Ji’an, China 800 CE (bottom left)
“Ignus Omneconsumens (atomic pollen)” Trinity Site, NM/Nagasaki, Japan, 1945 (bottom right)

2009−10
ceramic
8 x 8 x 10 in., 7 x 7 x 8 in., 4 x 15 x 4 in., 8 x 8 x 8 in.
lent by the artist, © 2020 Barbara Grothus
photos by Pat Berrett

The ecological impact of open-air nuclear blasts is the subject of Barbara Grothus's ceramic models of irradiated pollen grains. These altered samples were collected around the world at the northern latitudes corresponding with above-ground nuclear detonations. The general movement of winds scattered these radioactive genetic samples across the globe. Inevitably the pollen may create genetic hybrids altered by the unintended consequence of nuclear explosions. Grothus implies that the long term effects of nuclear driven genetic change may not yet be realized.