Wayward Seed

2025-Ongoing

Above all, what captivates me in the presence of plants is their remarkable capacity to survive and to give life. Seeds—these tiny, unassuming particles—carry within them a quiet intelligence, intricate designs that plants have accumulated over the course of evolution to continue existing.

Wild plants growing in arid lands speak to me differently. The harshness of their environment seems to have shaped them into delicate yet inventive survivors. Their seeds, though small and seemingly insignificant, tell of a resilience that preserves hope even in the face of scarcity and hardship.

In the seeds of these “wayward” plants, I see a reflection of myself: a being striving to root and grow in uneven soil, a small life seeking, with limited means, to make existence possible. Their persistence, their ingenuity, and the quiet hope hidden in their tiniest seeds inspire me to keep going.

The plants and seeds in this series were gathered from the surroundings of my home in Jajrud—from cracked earth and scattered construction and human debris. These fragments of green, remnants of cherry gardens in a place where beauty is scarce, have become the quiet pleasure of my daily walks. I often imagine that by collecting and preserving these seeds, I might sustain a small archive of life—plants increasingly forgotten amid the rush of construction and the spreading industrial landscape.

These photographs are my attempt to attune myself to plants that the world calls “weeds,” yet which embody the essence of survival—a mirror to human life in a land where simply being is itself an exercise in endurance.