Proxy Climates

In the midst of planetary biodiversity crisis, vegetation is slowly vanishing in many regions of the world. This prompts us to ask how to read the environment from weather patterns to soil and plants. What traces are archived for future study? Pollen is a paleoclimatic proxy, used in climate reconstruction and understanding of global climate dynamics. With its diverse range of climate sensitivities, it is an indicator of past vegetation changes. Since 2019 Benera & Estefan have been collecting pollen grains from dry land regions in the process of desertification, where vegetation is slowly vanishing. The artist duo started with the Oltenian Sahara in Southern Romania, then extending the research to other regions across Europe including Greece. The Mediterranean region is an area particularly vulnerable to climate change due to its sensitivity to drought. The collected pollen particles are archived and presented in the shape of geological core samples. The project aims to preserve the plants' genetic material and memory of disappearing flora, while also serving as possible scientific material for future paleoclimatic studies.