Indeterminate Emergence (2025),
Silver gelatine print 17.8cm x 12.7cm, series of 13,
developed in rosemary developer (25C-33C), salt fix (30C-40C) 48hr

Rooted in my practice as a stonecarving sculptor, I have been searching for a way to experience strata through its own active materiality.

Strata is full of stories; the photochemical process allows me to lean into them, particularly the stories of extraction.

The silver used in analogue film emulsions is mined and processed under hazardous conditions, using vast amounts of water, leaving behind a deluge of pollution at the processing site and silica in the lungs and bodies of miners. The extraction and processing of silver is thus deeply ingrained in the colonial hierarchies and capitalist systems that we live in and live by.

Thus my work with sustainable development methods to find care and connection within a place is contradicted by using silver gelatin film emulsion. Thus, I see my practice situated in the visceral, messy entanglements of being alive today.

Research

After gaining permission from strata and place (Rawlings, 2017) [1]. (my own ethical guidelines, 2025 inspired by Rawlings) and the human repairing a wall (Made of Echo) I started capturing images of recent human actions (Voelcker, 2024) [2]. I shifted my focus between areas of old mortar being removed and gaps being filled with a freshly mixed lime paste (A.V. Maria Bilbao-Herrera, 2014) [3].

Immersed in place and strata, I take images, mindful of the layers of mineral narratives inside this wall and on the mineral materiality of the analogue film strip (Clark, 2017) [4].

To develop negatives or analogue prints, the photochemical emulsion holding the negatives needs to be activated. Many herbs and plants contain phenol, which can be used as a silver halide reducer, helping to reveal analogue images and film.

To make my plant developer, I cut branches of a rosemary bush that grows near the mentioned wall. Some days, rosemary was brought to me by the local community that wished to contribute to this project.

I was intrigued by how analogue images would appear on silver gelatin prints, using parts of the plant to activate the process. Adding another layer to the mineral image and the mineral process, the rosemary developer activated the emergence of the image on the silver gelatine print. An image of strata and an archive of the mineral activation of the developing process (Train, 2013) [5].

If you are interested have a look at lukala.com and her plant developing workshops at theoldwaterworks.com

Visual Literature Research