Paulina Mirowska: Trophia

Trophia is a visual essay on the origins of life on Earth. This collection of photographs, sculptures and installations takes us back to the Precambrian era, when photosynthesis first occurred in the oceans. The central theme of the piece is chlorophyll, its sensitivity to light and the visualisation of the energy that gave rise to the first living cell and ultimately to everything that surrounds us.

The exhibition was born out of a desire to understand what life is, in order to understand and confront the meaning of extinction. I started looking for the oldest mechanisms that determined the evolution of life on Earth. I was interested in the moment when the sun, a destructive force, became a life-giving resource through the evolution of photosensitivity. As a photographer, I was fascinated by the ability of plants to perform photosynthesis – to absorb, retain and create new value from solar energy.