Of Seed and Self • BTS

The subject for Jason Koster’s Of Seed and Self series is the expressive seed pod of the Devil’s Claw plant.   Devil’s Claw is a hardy desert-dwelling plant that can be found in deserts all over the world.  

In the early stages of the pod’s growth they have a soft fleshy exoskeleton. Early American settlers would pickle them at this stage. Its method of propagation is to have its arm-like hooks catch onto anything passing by, allowing seeds to spill out of the top of the pod. The seeds are also used to make tea, which is believed to aid in digestion.  

Koster’s seed pods are from the Sonoran Desert and were found while scouting locations for a commercial photo shoot.

Originally photographed in 2007 and then reworked into the Of Seed and Self series in 2023. 

The series took a couple of weeks to photograph and was captured using the same 6 x 7 cm medium format film camera Koster used for his Being Seen portrait series.  In the spirit of the Being Seen series, Of Seed and Self was also shot only using natural light and is considered a portrait series as well.