Fixing the shadows is a photographic project that focuses on processes of cameraless photography and seeks out new ways to work with darkroom based photography that I regard as less environmentally and personally destructive. I explore how methods of fixing an image trace can technically represent a form of mending, which I associate with the practise of care.
The project is reliant on the reciprocal relationship between myself and plants, acknowledging plant agency. Fixing the shadows is also a personal project that began with the death of my father, and in this sense seeks to mend a personal grief. Together with students, family, friends and colleagues, I have planted and grown a sustainable photographic garden. It is a gesture of reciprocal practise to heal a small piece of ground, which is indicative of a larger world in environmental crisis.
The exhibition was comprised of the garden, lumen prints, anthotypes, phytograms and a light installation presented in immersive form. The presence of plant life is traced through chemical processes of cameraless photography and the unusual colour emanations that result from its shadows. It is hoped that this immersive, dynamic work will for a moment dispel fear and grief, bringing the viewer out of the shadows and into the light.
This project is in many ways only the groundwork, as there is much still to do in this arena. In the short term my aim is to work with other photographic organisations, locally and abroad to set up sustainable darkroom gardens and to teach others about sustainable darkroom practices. I will continue to experiment, making, playing, learning and teaching in this area, which, although originating from photography’s past, is destined to be part of its future.
The barren soil can be made fertile again, to share and hopefully shift photography to a practice that is less about taking, capturing and shooting and more about gently learning and sharing.