Finistère, 2025 - ongoing
The land in Finistère is not unfamiliar. It feels like a long-lost acquaintance, someone we once knew deeply and are only now learning to recognise again.
Er c'hoad
War ballenn vlot ar c’hoad
Mont a bazioù voulouz
Azezañ ouzh ho troad
Er brizhheol, en didrouz.
Pell eus tabut an dud.
Selaou sarac’h ho teil…
Ha flourañ a bep eil
Gant va dorn ha va sell…
A vouezh dous ho kervel
A-bouez hoc’h anvioù-hud :
Derv-gwenn. Koad-kren
Skav-gwrac’h. Faou-put
Evor. Aozilh. Bezv-gwenn
Va mil mignonez mut !…
2 a viz Kerzu 1967
Anjela Duval
In the forest
On the soft carpet of the forest
To go on velvet footsteps
To sit at your feet
In the dappled sunlight, in silence
Far from the sounds of humans
To listen to the rustling of your leaves…
And to caress alternatively
With my hand and my look…
In a soft voice I call you
Using your magical names:
White-oak. Forest-aspen
Maple. Hornbeam.
Black-alder. Willow. White Birch.
My thousand mute friends.
September 1968.
Translated by Lenora Timm
Towards the sun
2022- ongoing
Anthotypes from the archives:
A fusion of nature, time, and history
The anthotype process is an old photographic technique that uses plant extracts as light-sensitive materials. These extracts react to UV light, creating delicate, ephemeral prints that gradually fade over time.
The process of anthotype is ideal for giving images a solemn, almost
dreamlike aura. Exposure times varies greatly, starting from a few days spanning to several months. The process is very unpredictable and the results almost always unstable (UV sensitive), but the aesthethics and the manual gathering and processing of plants make it a very rewarding process.
In this project, I explore themes of nature, time, and history by combining vintage family photographs (ranging from 1900–2000) with plant-based prints. Each image is carefully paired with an extract that has a meaningful or playful connection. A Moroccan landscape, shot during a family vacation, is printed using saffron, while a 1910 equestrian portrait is made with dandelions and meadow flowers. Other images are developed using plants native to the depicted locations. A photo of a garden is printed with plants my grandfather once cultivated there. A print with green tones was developed using ivy, a plant that remains beautifully visible in the final image. Some choices are symbolic, while others are purely aesthetic, such as red cabbage producing a stunning purple hue.
The anthotype process recreated these images as a fading memory, much like photographs and stories passed through generations.
These are not permanent, so they will disappear again in due time. It was, and still is, a beautiful project that is going much further than I expected. Anthotype is a rewarding ecological process that is now a permanent part of my artistic research. There is so much more to discover out there!
Royal greenhouses of Laeken, Brussels, Belgium.
Developed with magenta colored flowers of himalayan balsam (Impatiens glandulifera).
This invasive species gives a beautiful hue of purple/red. By using an invasive species the creation of this anthotype was even more beneficient for the environment.
Plougasnou, France.
I developed this image with extract from
a butterfly bush or summer lilac (buddleja davidii) to get a beautiful golden
anthotype. Stangely enough, those lilac colored flowers produce the most warm of yellows! Never a dull moment....
Eve behind glass
Photobook & poster series, 2018 - 2019
A look in the not so secret life of flora in glass palaces. A nod to a modern genesis with heavy humidity, exotic plants, cast iron pillars and misty glass.
At night,
the light
Photoseries, 2019
An ode to synthetic light that surrounds us at night.
Wonder
Looking through the eyes of animals, exploring the different spectrum of color they see.
Unearthed
Photoseries, 2021
The cave and rocks were a safe haven once. The rock being almost soft while we painted on it, gazed at the images for comfort and stories. How can we return the transcendence back to the stone?
