Artist Statement – Terminator

The Terminator series contains my earliest stop-motion animations that I developed during my Master of Fine Arts studies at Western University. Two of the largest genetically modified plant crops, canola and cotton, are grown out of paper that has been discarded by others. Just as the paper plants are about to flower they retreat back into themselves rather than producing seeds. They are incapable of completing the cycle of life. The title Terminator refers to the copyrighted Terminator seed that has been genetically engineered by the large biotech company Monsanto to produce a plant that yields only sterile seeds.

The animation Terminator/”Month of March” has a cotton plant made from discarded paper and plastic growing and retreating back into itself on top of a reproduction in a book of Han Bol’s The Month of March: Planting of Vines from 1573. Monsanto’s Terminator seed ensures that farmers will no longer be able to save their seeds from year to year – a sustainable agricultural practice that humans have relied upon for hundreds of years.