Suzu City, located at the tip of the Noto Penninsula in Ishikawa, has long interacted with continents and distant parts of the Japanese archipelango to form a rich culture centred on the staoyama and satoumi landscape. However, since the 20th century, Suzu has been left behind by the wave of urbanization and become a remote city at the “furthest place.” To cause a stir in that current, Oku-Noto Ttriennale started in the autumn of 2017. Artists from all over the world faced a rural landscape that might be called “forgot- ten Japan” due to its position at the “furthest place,” and they built up its charm with their art.

In 2023, Maria Fernanda Cardoso was invited to participate in the third edition of the Oku-Noto Triennale. For her installation project, Cardoso chose the site of an old abandoned nursery. Building on her long career working with natural materials and organic forms, Cardoso used three different seedpods that are endemic to the Noto Peninsula to create a striking installation entitled Seedpod Time Capsule.

Woody seedpods are time capsules, beautiful organic forms that protect seeds so they can travel through time and space. Each and every one car- ries the potential of the whole species into the future. Seedpod Time Capsule asks us to ponder what it means to reproduce, protect and nurture the next generation.

Working with water caltrops, camelia seedpods, and pine cones, Cardoso created large-scale undulating patterns that demonstrate the incredible range of forms, shapes and colours of seed pods that often go unnoticed or ignored.What interests Cardoso the most is their toughness and the beauti- ful shapes of the seedpods that contain the seed. She sees in these woody seedpods a fierce and protective role of maternity, the same that we humans feel toward our offspring.

Seedpod Time Capsule reminds us that humans, like all animals and plants, have a biological imperative to reproduce, to protect, and to nurture the next generation. While the children and families who once were cared for and grew up in this Nursery are now living in other parts of Japan, visitors to this installation can reflect upon the interconnectedness of life in all its rich variety.