I begin by looking closely. I tread on the earth, which, divided by lines, seems endless. In the beginning, there was the seed. Hidden underground, it is condemned to a fleeting existence, with no possibility of renewal. The fruit we obtain from it, and for which we wait between 120 and 150 days, is sterile. The dented corn kernel is genetically modified and infertile.

Confronted with the ghostly images of a place transformed in the name of productivity and profitability, a paradox emerges. I therefore distance myself from this place. I search for it from the exosphere, only to find many others that are similar. This cosmic viewpoint reveals an abstract patchwork quilt. I feel like I am observing the fields through the lens of a microscope. I do not know if I am close or far away.

I approach slowly. I see the sea, the agricultural and forest monocultures. From Vilar, I see Vila do Conde. This is an automated, industrialized view that goes beyond the limits of the natural world. Suddenly and without warning, I return to the land where hundreds of chemicals are accumulated. Poisons that penetrate the soil, disrupting nature and the fundamental condition of plants: their ability to exist in the world without needing, as Emanuele Coccia tells us in The Life of Plants, the ‘mediation of other living beings to survive.’ Small shoots sprout from the ground. The lines become more pronounced and the horizon slowly disappears. Monocultures have homogenized the landscape to such an extent that I can no longer see what lies beyond, what lies beyond the fields. I imitate the machines that work at night, reversing the natural cycle of plants, which depend on sunlight.

Sometimes I challenge myself to enter their labyrinth, hoping to find the end of the field. I repeat these visits to the point of exhaustion, until the sterile fruit is ready to be harvested. The repetition of the photographic images of the fields is therefore linked to the latent industrial gesture that is simultaneously distant and possessive, but also microscopic and close. Then everything starts again.