Dornith Doherty: Archiving Eden II

Holly Johnson Gallery in Dallas, Texas is pleased to announce the opening of Archiving Eden II, an exhibition of new work by Dornith Doherty. An opening reception for the artist will be held on Saturday, October 17 from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. The exhibition continues through November 14, 2009.

In Archiving Eden II, Dornith Doherty continues to explore the role of seed banks and their preservation efforts in the face of climate change, the extinction of natural species and decreased agricultural diversity. Doherty used on-site x- ray equipment at the National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation in Fort Collins, Colorado, and at the Millennium Seed Bank, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Wakehurst Place in Sussex, England to photograph seeds and cloned plants from the facilities’ extensive storage vaults. The archival pigment prints in the exhibition include the seed and plant x-rays arranged into mandala shapes as well as organic designs that evoke tensions between storage and dispersal, and reproduction and extinction. The digital chromogenic lenticular prints include collaged x-ray images of seeds in blue, green and brown backgrounds that shift in color and shape – hologram-like - as the viewer moves past. This work questions the complex philosophical, anthropological, and ecological issues surrounding the role of science, technology, and human agency in the context of seed banks.

Dornith Doherty was born in Houston, Texas and received a B.A. from Rice University in Houston and a MFA in Photography from Yale University. She currently resides in Dallas and is a Professor of Photography at the University of North Texas. She is a recipient of grants from the Fulbright Foundation, the Japan Foundation, the United States Department of the Interior, the Indiana Arts Commission and the Society for Contemporary Photography.

In 2010 Doherty’s work will be featured in the Encuentros Abiertos Photography Biennial in Buenos Aires, Argentina and at the Galveston Art Center. She was recently nominated for the 2009 Santa Fe Prize in Photography and her work was featured in exhibitions at the CADD Art Lab in Dallas, Texas (2009), the Rockport Center for the Arts in Rockport, Texas (2009), the National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation in Fort Collins, Colorado (2008), the Visual Arts Center in Portsmouth, Virginia (2008), FotoFest 2006 in Houston, Texas, the Houston Center for Photography in Houston, Texas (2006), and the Yuma Art Center Museum in Yuma, Arizona (2005). Her work is in numerous permanent collections, including the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas, the Museum of Fine Arts in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in Minnesota, the Yale University Library in New Haven, Connecticut, the Museet Fotokunst in Odense, Denmark, Goldman-Sachs in New York, Harrah’s Casino in New Orleans, Sprint Corporation in Kansas, the City of Denton, Texas, W Hotel in Dallas, and the Federal Reserve Bank in Houston.

Doherty's work has also been written about extensively and has appeared in articles in publications such as the Dallas Observer, Modern Luxury Dallas, Art Lies Magazine, Austin American Statesman, Austin Chronicle, Fort Worth Weekly, Houston Press, Houston Chronicle, The Dallas Morning News and Fort Worth Star-Telegram.