Hitchhikers: Thorny South African Seeds Get An Up Close Examination In Macro Photographs By Dillon Marsh

“Seeds in the form of thorns and burs are familiar features of the tall grass or underbrush of South African landscapes. Some bear hooks and barbs designed to latch onto the fur and fleece of passing animals, while others grow sharp spikes intended to pierce hooves and feet. This allows them to spread to new areas, even crossing to other continents, earning them the collective name ‘hitchhiker plants’. Macro photography reveals the often unnoticed details of these intricate seeds.”

Dillon Marsh (born 1981) is a photographic artist living in Cape Town, South Africa. He received a BA (Fine Art) degree from the University of Stellenbosch in 2003, and became passionate about photography while studying. He has held five solo exhibitions in South Africa and has taken part in numerous group exhibitions both locally and abroad. His work is represented in prominent public and private collections, among them the Saatchi Gallery in London.

Marsh’s work often isolates and emphasises specific features of particular landscapes, from suburban areas to more desolate rural scenes – usually elements that illustrate how we as a species engage both deliberately and unintentionally with the world around us. In recent years, he has also introduced computer generated imagery into his photographs in an attempt to reveal underlying features or dynamics that can’t be illustrated with photography alone.

More: Dillon Marsh, Instagram, Behance h/t: colossal