On a quiet island in Norway, a cavernous structure protruding out of permafrost holds over 770,000 seeds of plants from all over  the globe in case of a sudden “doomsday” scenario or plant-pocalypse. This is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, the spark for artist Kaitlyn Schwalje’s macrophotography project, Seeds Under Microscope.

“I work on the premise that a single captivating image can be enough to make an otherwise inaccessible and dense topic exciting. It’s a form of packaging,” explains Schwalje, whose background is in physics and designs. “Behind the image of  a seed is a rich and timeless story about agricultural futures and climate change; a story spanning continents and centuries. Any level of investigation uncovers new knowledge.” (source).