A Living Archive
Flax, 2024, anthotype (pokeberry emulsion) on artist-made paper, 11 x 14 in
A series of anthotypes and “plantistypes™” that I created with Lindsey Beal. We innovated a plant-based, handmade photo paper to document post-industrial New England. These experiments combine handmade papermaking and alternative photographic processes in a rich collaborative series.
A Living Archive currently focuses on the Blackstone River Valley, the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. It was and still is the site of mills, supplying the country with materials and goods, relying on families and children for their labor force, and impacting both nature and people.
This project creates a contemporary archive of the remaining built landscape and marginalized ecologies, through the lens of sustainable processes and materials. We made photos and gathered plant materials on-site. They we printed imagery on handmade sun-sensitive plant paper. When displayed in exhibition spaces where they are exposed to sunlight, this living work poetically fades, just as this complex history will if it is not named and archived.
What are anthotypes and plantistypes™?
Anthotype
A sustainable, plant-based photographic process. You coat paper with berry or leaf juice emulsion, lay an object or transparency down on the paper, and expose it to sunlight for weeks or months to create the photographic print.
Plantistype™
A new, plant-based photographic/papermaking technique invented by May Babcock and Lindsey Beal in 2024. The artists made chlorophyll-rich paper from pulped plants, and exposed areas of the paper to sunlight for months to create a photographic image.