The figures seem to float on air, hanging in unnatural positions, their limbs dangling. Made of a compacted growing medium, these sculptures by Mathilde Roussel are planted with grass seeds and allowed to transform over time, the grass sprouting and growing.

The French artist’s ‘Lifes of Grass’ series is pictured here at the Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art in Nashville, Tennessee. The sculptures are formed using a metal frame, soil and wheat grass.

The artist explains that she aims to show viewers, through the sculptures, that the food we eat and the way that it is grown and transported has an impact on us all. “The natural world, ingested as food becomes a component of human being. Through these anthropomorphic and organic sculptures made of soil and wheat grass seeds, I strive to show that food, its origin, its transport, has an impact on us beyond its taste.”

“The power inside it affects every organ of our body. Observing nature and being aware of what and how we eat makes us more sensitive to food cycles in the world – of abundance, of famine – and allows us to be physically, intellectually and spiritually connected to a global reality.”