Fruits, Seeds, and Other Such Things

On the hunt for inspiration, I visited the Werner Center for the Arts, and I was struck by the exhibit Unruly Objects by Veronica Ryan.

Excerpts from Unruly Objects

Veronica Ryan: Unruly Objects is the first comprehensive survey exhibition of Montserrat-born British artist Veronica Ryan. Spanning over four decades, the exhibition features more than 100 sculptures, works on paper, and textiles. These works reflect Ryan's ongoing interest in themes of memory, transformation, and belonging.
Thresholds and transitions captivate Ryan. Pillows serve as portals to dreams. Windows offer glimpses into architectural space. Botanical forms—flowers, fruits, seeds, and pods—symbolize states of germination, ripeness, and decay. These motifs reflect her investigation of movement between interior and exterior worlds, between one culture and another, and between the conscious and unconscious. Ryan's sculptures often evoke intricate forms and fragile structures found in nature, reflecting her long-standing interest in the natural world, which includes herbs, fruit skins, stones, volcanic ash, and organic fibers. Included among them are also seeds and pods, which carry layered meanings. They can be protective vessels for new life and also expressions of enclosure or containment. At the same time, references to seeds are not always literal. They can also serve as metaphors for the psychological processes of idea formation and internal growth.
Although she explores intangible concepts such as psychological states, dreams, and the way we perceive reality, Ryan roots her work in experimenting with materials. Trained at the Slade School of Fine Art in the 1970s and 80s, she initially used traditional media such as plaster, bronze, and marble. Over time, her practice expanded to include craft techniques learned from her mother—embroidery, crochet, and quilting—acknowledging a personal and intergenerational legacy. In recent decades, Ryan has incorporated found and organic materials—such as ocean coral, packaging, and seeds—creating assemblages that speak to environmental concerns as well as the overlooked potential of discarded objects.
Ryan experienced a childhood marked by frequent relocations and has often addressed themes of diaspora and displacement. Unruly Objects offers a rare and intimate look at her personal, material-rich practice-an exploration of how objects, like identities, can hold and conceal meaning across time and place.

A Seed Is Never Just a Seed
Veronica Ryan frequently engages with themes of growth, dispersal, and change. The vivid colors and alluring textures of these sculptures recall tropical plants and suggest the wonder and bounty of nature's abundance and biodiversity. She often incorporates organic matter like avocado stones, mango seeds, and herbs into her work. But just as often, what appears to be a squash is a bronze cast of the fruit with a rich green patina, or an orange peel is revealed to be made from clay or bronze. In other words, a seed is never just a seed, and a fruit is never just a fruit. Meaning, language, and perceptions are central concerns in her sculpture.
Across her work, Ryan channels her lived experiences while also addressing larger global histories of these plants. This includes the ways that their desirability has turned them into international commodities. Tea, coffee, avocados, and dates, among other plant materials, have figured heavily in histories of colonization as well as contemporary conflicts over land use and environmental degradation.

Ryan explores the relationships and boundaries between materiality and the forms of natural and unnatural objects. She emphasizes the cultural and social significance of natural things such as fruits and seeds, which I think will be important to keep in mind while designing for a natural and public environment. Before, I thought of fruits and seeds in isolation, separate from the cultural and socioeconomic contexts in which they exist. This exhibit made me realize that they can have tangible cultural connections and emotional connotations for many people.

Resources

Wexner Center for the Arts. (2025-2026). Veronica Ryan: Unruly Objects. Columbus, Ohio, U.S.A.

Mitter, S. (2022). Veronica Ryan’s Uncanny Objects. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/18/arts/design/veronica-ryans-artist-paula-cooper-whitney-turner.html

No generative AI was used in the creation of this post.