Artist Statement

Anthotype is an early photographic process, which uses natural dyes and extended sun exposure to create photographic images. The first anthotype prints were made in 1842 as an experiment to invent color photography. As an artist, I am drawn to this Victorian process, because it is a ecologically and environmentally sound method of photography.  In order to preserve knowledge of the anthotype process and make it more available to the photographic community, I have documented my experiments with the medium and detailed the creative process.

My present body of work combines anthotype onto textiles, in the form of a quilt. By creating the quilt, I’m marking time, and specifically this time in our life with a small child, while my husband and I both have jobs. Life is not particularly easy, nor is it impossible, but it is beautiful.

I am exploring our human, and specifically female, connection to landscape and nature through the imagery I create and the dye sources I employ.  With the entirety of this work I’m making connections between natural dyes and nature, quilting and female identity, and feminine knowledge transfer through shared techniques and traditions. The female lineage of quilting forms the roots of this body of work, and illustrates the knowledge transferred through women over time, both through craft and as a tangible object by representation of multi-generational female experience.  

This work also challenges the basic photographic principles of light and time since anthotype is both created and destroyed by light. All photographic processes require light to create their imagery. Most are light safe and permanent, but anthotype is not. Anothtype is a truer representation of time, because it isn’t permanent, it changes over time just like the original image source in photography. Anthotype is closer to reality than traditional photography.

All of these processes are deeply seeded at the core of who I am. The history of natural dyes, photography, and quilting are vast and deep with significant artistic, gender, and cultural importance. This quilt provides a marker of the physical landscape we currently live in for my daughter and myself. Combining anthotype and quilting allow me to express my personal connection to place as well as my personal history with the medium.