/
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
Monett & Sedalia
18 x 14 inches
Archival pigment print of a image grown in the microalgae chlorella vulgaris
2021 - ongoing
In 2018, I photographed poultry plants and the surrounding waterways of Monett and Sedalia in rural Missouri. These two locations have been the site of past environmental disasters and also collectively contribute to the overabundance of nutrients, algal bloom and subsequent dead zone that forms annually in the Gulf of Mexico. Following the creation of the images, I was unable to identify a fitting medium that would depict the interconnectedness of these seemingly disparate environments. In 2021, I began to experiment with using a 35mm enlarger and light table exposure unit to grow these photographs directly in the microalgae chlorella vulgaris. In the photographic negative, darker areas receive more light and therefore become darker. The result is a living rendering that takes a week to form. In its current form, the results are scanned and produced as a series of archival prints.