Boston Athenaeum, acquisitions!
🤓 Exciting news for the new year, y'all. I'm so happy and honored that cyanotypes and several anthotype photographic prints from A Living Archive—a collaborative project by Lindsey Beal and I—have been acquired by the wonderful folks at the Boston Athenaeum 🌱☀️🎉. Anthotypes are a natural, plant-based alternative photographic process—using plant and berry juices and using the sun (UV light) to print.
The Boston Athenaeum is a unique combination of library, museum, and cultural center in a magnificent landmark building right in Boston, MA. So many, many thanks to Lauren Graves for her enthusiasm and support for our project.
To sum up "anthotypes", Lindsey and I:
made paper.
gathered pokeweed berries, smashed'em, and made a light-sensitive juice from it.
coated said handmade paper with emulsion.
used the sun to print images—it takes several weeks to months of exposure to UV light.
smashing pokeberry for anthotypes
Lindsey signing digital prints of the anthotypes for the Boston Athenaeum permanent collections.
Lindsey and I did even more experiments with plants/chlorophyll/photo/sunlight/papermaking which were also acquired by the Boston Athenaeum. You'll hear more about those in a couple months bc it's pretty wild stuff 🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿.
For now, check out the beginnings of A Living Archive, documented over at Providence Arts & Letters:
See more about A Living Archive
👆 Go ahead, take a quick look! You'll find out more about our experimental hand papermaking + photography project.