Memory Seed Bombs - Progression

Documentation of a Memory Seed Bomb dissolving and sprouting by Kasey Smith

Colorful illustration of a food package for Bar-Tender's brand whiskey sour instant mix, featuring a red oval logo and a glass of whiskey sour drink, with yellow, blue, and orange background elements.

I thought I had more time…

But I knew better. I knew I was running out the clock by being avoidant. That in the end I would regret so much of this. And I did. I started painting the Memory Seed Bombs when my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. This was years — decades even — after losing my father, my grandmother and grandfather, and my great uncle and great aunt to various, assorted memory disorders. Offering to paint her a Memory Seed Bomb for my father was too painful, so I asked if she’d like me to immortalize a simple memory of her parents — she choose the whiskey sours they drank every evening after dinner. So I painted the seed bomb and then life intervened. There was the pandemic lockdown, we had to move her into memory care, I quit my job due to burn out, I moved to the Netherlands. And suddenly the visits became further and further apart. Until the last one, which was mainly just silence. The moment to plant the seed bomb together had passed. So for fifty days I watered this Memory Seed Bomb, sprouting the forget-me-nots inside, in her honor.

A colorful package of instant whiskey sour mix with a red and yellow logo at the top. The package features an illustration of a whiskey sour cocktail with an orange slice. The package is slightly worn and has a handwritten note at the bottom.
A paper seed bomb painted to look like a package of whiskey sour mix photographed over six days of being watered.
Close-up of a vintage, worn packet of Bar Tenders brand whiskey sour cocktail mix, with visible text and colorful design, covered in water droplets.
A paper seed bomb painted to look like a package of whiskey sour mix photographed over six days of being watered.
Close-up of a worn and faded label on a box of Whiskey Sour instant drink mix, showing the text "Bar-Tenders Brand" and some decorative graphics.
A paper seed bomb painted to look like a package of whiskey sour mix photographed over six days of being watered.
A paper seed bomb painted to look like a package of whiskey sour mix
A worn vintage label for Bar-Tender's Brand Whiskey Sour featuring faded colors and distressed paper.
Close-up of an old, weathered cardboard sign with colorful, chipped paint that reads 'Bar Tenders BMWD' and 'Wisky' with a yellow border and red background surrounding the text.
A weathered and partially torn vintage wrapper of a product branded as 'Bar-Lemon's' on a white surface.
A paper seed bomb painted to look like a package of whiskey sour mix photographed over six days of being watered.
A close-up of an old, worn label from a whisky sour mix, with visible peeling paint and faded colors, featuring the brand name 'Bar Tender's' and the words 'Whisky Sour'.
A paper seed bomb painted to look like a package of whiskey sour mix photographed over six days of being watered.
A six-paneled collage of an old, worn label for 'Whisky Sour' with visible damage and discoloration.