Celebrating Weeds

Celebrating Weeds: A Series of Anthotypes

I was awarded a Time Space Money bursary from a-n, along with Creative Scotland funding, to develop a body of work exploring circular, low-impact making.

After careful reflection on my practice I decided that out of my specialisms, anthotypes have the lowest environmental impact. While I had previously created anthotypes using fruit and vegetables from my allotment, I began to question the ethics of using food as an art material, amidst a cost of living crisis.

I live in Leith, Edinburgh, the most densely populated area of Scotland and sometimes need to remind myself to connect with nature. During a neighbourhood photo walk, I found inspiration in the wild plants, or weeds. This sparked the idea of using the “weeds” that I regularly remove from my allotment to make space for food cultivation. I created plant emulsions, painted them onto paper, placed them in contact frames along with a specimen of each plant. I exposed them to sunlight, for the images development, over the course of several weeks.

In order to document the plants I was using, I initially used the sky as a backdrop to photograph them. I realised that by holding the plants aloft, created a sense of celebration. The creation of anthotypes continues the celebration of these often overlooked plants. 

The artwork originates from the earth and can be returned to it. At the end of their life, I plan to compost the photographs, completing the cycle of creation, decay and regrowth.

The series of work was exhibited at The Barn, Aberdeenshire, as part of |MATTER| Earth, Materials + Making, with Closing The Loop.

My Portfolio >