Making Pictures from Plants

Lindsey Beal created a series of Anthotypes commemorating different waves of the Women’s Rights Movement, as part of “A Yellow Rose Project.” She used beets to create prints with the signature pink hues adopted by the cause. The natural fading which occurs in Anthotypes can be seen above in a comparison of the original print on the day I visited (top) with an inkjet print made when the Anthotype was created (bottom). This serves as an apt metaphor for how each movement loses momentum over time, before another wave of activism.

“Riah Milton” from the series In Lieu of Flowers was made by Caleb Cole using rose petals from their garden to memorialize “transpeople murdered in the United States and Puerto Rico due to transphobia, state violence, and institutional neglect.” The series of fading selfies invites viewers to reflect upon “community, loss, time, and the impossible effort to extend both the life of my roses and the memory of these stolen lives.” Courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas, Boston.

“Lunar Landscape #3” was created by exhibit co-curator Jesseca Ferguson as part of a series using a 20th century fantasy view from the surface of moon, gazing at the earth. “To print my images I crushed Swiss chard, purple cabbage, turmeric, elderberries, hibiscus tea, roses, red and purple stock, purple carnations. The sun – which nourished these colorful plants by enabling them to grow in the first place – had a further function in creating these Anthotypes: bleaching away the color.” Ferguson’s landscapes integrate our actual sun and earth into her imaginary versions of planetary bodies. Courtesy of the artist.

“Portrait of a Young Woman” was made by exhibit co-curator Mary Kocol using wild black raspberries. “I wanted each portrait to capture the essence of the person. Roses, irises, wild black raspberries, peas, and morning glories became a poetic medium to imprint these faces of family and friends who I missed seeing in real life during the lock down. Flowers remind us of life and beauty and are revitalizing to have around. Living during a pandemic taught us that life is ephemeral and fragile, and to me, the fleeting Anthotype expresses this perfectly.” Courtesy of the artist and Gallery NAGA, Boston.

“Fading Reefs #2” by Elizabeth Ellenwood, courtesy of the artist. “The Anthotype process is a perfect way to tell the reefs’ stories: the bleaching pigment in the prints references the devastating loss of pigment-rich algae that not only give corals their colors, but most importantly keep them alive. The prints are delicate, time sensitive, and beautiful – just like our ocean’s coral reefs.”

“Hold Fast” by Christine Elfman was made using paper dyed with lichen, picturing “my hands, my mother’s hands, plaster casts of my past hands, fragments of plaster cast statues, and rock formations. The breakdown of the original image yields something immaterial, invisible, and valuable in and of itself: memory.” Courtesy of the artist and Euqinom Gallery, San Francisco.

“Four Dresses Star” by Francis Schanberger is a photogram of translucent textiles – in this case babies’ garments – using natural pigments from the yard and kitchen. “The Anthotype will fade with continued exposure to light so the very act of displaying and viewing it has a cost in terms of how long-lived the image will be…but nothing lasts forever.” Courtesy of the artist.

“Observer” by Scott McMahon illustrates the artist’s abiding interest in 19th century printing techniques, “a common thread in exploring fragility, lack of permanence and the ephemeral.” His work “can display a moment in time, an imprint of an object, rich and subtle tones and hues, but like our own memory, these imprints will eventually change and fade over time.” Courtesy of the artist.

A film still from “Green Eye” by British artist Edd Carr. Animations are crafted by looping Anthotype prints made with spinach and water in the sun. Courtesy of the artist.

“Deep Violet” a series of ten Anthotypes by Polish artist Pawel Kula. “I am fascinated by images which are far from the visual experiences of the human. The phenomena of photo-sensitivity and optics inspire me to create unusual cameras and optical toys, becoming an element of my artistic acts and workshops.” Courtesy of the artist.

“Matt Berry Berry” by Scottish artist Brittonie Fletcher is a play on Andy Warhol’s “Marilyn” employing the visage of Fletcher’s favorite radio host, Matt Berry. “I wanted to deep dive into different colours of Anthotypes to better understand how various emulsions render tone and their range of exposure times. This project was part experiment, part teaching tool, and part hilarious. A daily occurrence for months. I cracked myself up, and thankfully some of my students too.” Courtesy of the artist.

“PursuitProfit – Turmeric Drought” by German artist Matthias Hagemann addresses the clash between environmentalism and corporate profit. “Images of air pollution caused by fossil fuels, soil degradation, and slash-and-burn destruction of rainforests printed on valid banknotes” fade over time, highlighting the imbalance of power. “Nobody can deny the discoloration anymore. It points to an urgent need for rethinking.” Courtesy of the artist.

Page spread from the handmade book “Notes on Disappearance” by Polish artist Marek Noniewicz. “The main area of my activity is photography, although more and more often I think that I am interested in photosensitivity. The irreversibility and constant transformations of analog processes are somehow synonymous with the changeability of the natural world. Maybe what I’m trying to record is the course of these changes?” Courtesy of the artist.

Digital photograph of “Tulip Emulsion Anthotype of Nail File Printed On Till Receipt from Maypole Stores, Herefordshire” from the series Grave Goods (2020) by British artist Nettie Edwards. In assembling random objects left behind after the death of her hoarder aunt, “new connecting threads were made” in a union of “Object Studies and curated decay.”  “My work..present(s) photography not as an act of preserving memories but a performative one of letting go.” Courtesy of the artist.

“Anthotype Portrait” by John Opera, courtesy of the artist. In the creation of a diverse archive of college student portraits begun in 2015, prints are made from various flower and fruit extracts that are light-sensitive enough to be used as rudimentary print emulsions—an instance of nature recording nature. All of the images are rendered in reds and violets derived from the material sources of the emulsions: blueberries, pokeberries, beets, and chokeberries. As new subjects are added to the archive, earlier ones fade and disappear. The collection is a complete work of art, displaying an ebb and flow of recording and erasure, challenging the linear, compartmentalized notions of time that underpin the framework of Eurocentric, dualistic thinking.” Courtesy of the artist.

Feature Image: “Four Panel Anthotype (Beets)” by DM Witman, courtesy of the artist. “Anthotypes are both ephemeral and robust, not unlike the dualities of the natural world. The knowledge that these images will fade over time, and that this ephemerality is part of the process, serves as a mirror to “life.” How do we deal with the existential crisis of our time? For some, this leaves a heavy mark, as we watch the balance continue to fade.”