Several years ago, I photographed young fern shoots at the moment of their emergence. For a long time, these photographs remained still images, preserving a state before movement, before the unfolding of form.
In Experiments in Awakening, I return to these photographs and, with the help of AI, set an imaginary life in motion within them. The shoots slowly move, tremble, reach upward, attempt to unfold, fail, and curl back inward. This is neither a botanical time-lapse nor a reconstruction of real growth, but a series of experiments in awakening the image.
Macro photography shifts the optics of perception, transforming the fern into something between a plant, an embryo, and a fossil. The familiar plant becomes an uncertain living form, observed at the edge of visibility and recognition.
The film approaches ecology through attention: by slowing down perception, it invites the viewer to encounter plant life as an autonomous, fragile, and mysterious form of existence. Nature is not shown as scenery, but as a living presence with its own time, rhythm, and vulnerability.
The film explores a fragile moment of becoming, where awakening remains unfinished and reversible.
AI tools used for the film’s creation: Kling, ElevenLabs