The Sustainable Darkroom
Hannah Fletcher, Founder of The Sustainable Darkroom and Artist www.hannahfletcher.com/the-sustainable-darkroom
MANUFACTURERS and companies in all industries are increasingly aware of the need to consider their environmental presence. But what of the individual working in analogue photography? I spoke to Hannah Fletcher, who is an artist, working primarily with cameraless photographic and alternative processes, and is the founder of the Sustainable Darkroom, an initiative created to research less-harmful practices within the medium.
‘The Sustainable Darkroom is operated by a team of three: myself, Ed Carr and Alice Cazenave. We see it as an ethos, a way of approaching and understanding photography within the wider photographic industry,’ Hannah told me. ‘Because of the name, some assume it is a physical space, but it is more than that. It is a
way for practitioners to consider their materials and processes and how to make them more environmentally friendly.’ I wondered if it was best described as a collective, network or platform. ‘It’s a combination of all these,’ she replied. ‘Any research, which contributes to the ethos of the Sustainable Darkroom, should be built upon and distributed. We gain more when this knowledge is shared.’
This is partly achieved through self-published books, which highlight research work with examples and essays by different practitioners. ‘There have been two publications,’ confirmed Hannah. ‘This is Not a Solution in 2019 and This is (Still) Not a Solution in 2020, and both have been reprinted after initial print runs sold out. We have approached them as resource documents rather than a showcase of photographic work. Of course, we want them to be visually interesting and demonstrate some of the amazing work individuals have created, but it is important that they function as informational resources.’
In her introduction to This is (Still) Not a Solution, Hannah mentions that the use of the word ‘sustainable’ can be problematic. ‘The reason for this, and the fact it is in our name, is that it is used by big companies for greenwashing. It is important to recognise small changes, but there needs to be an overall cultural understanding of how we approach artistic practices. For a long time, we’ve been taught that art has no boundaries, nothing should come in the way of its production or the material cost, instead just find a way to make the work. But we have to consider so much more if we are going to be using the word sustainable.’
Among the work undertaken and researched are alternative, organic plant-based emulsions and developers, efficiency in print washing and silver recovery. ‘We are also researching alternatives to plastic, such as Kombucha Scoby. The Scoby is an acronym of “symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast”, and a byproduct of Kombucha, a popular fermented health drink. It can be harvested, dried and used instead of leather and plastic. Being absorbent, chemistry adheres to it and once dried can be re-wetted. Cyanotype chemistry works very well with it, while Micheala Davidova has applied silver nitrate to it without using gelatin. Another artist, Myka Baum, uses it with natural dyes like beetroot.’
Our conversation turned to the reliance and relevance of digital practice, particularly within the collective’s work. ‘As an organisation, we work online so we need to use digital, but we do consider which video platform we use, what powers our lights and whether there is some control over the energy used. We don’t necessarily see a distinction between analogue and digital and many of our artists use both mediums. Felix Loftus is a digital practitioner and part of our Garden Residency. He is a computational artist following low-tech principles such as building a camera powered by solar and wind containing bio sensors that respond to the movements of plants.’
Residencies are an important part of the Sustainable Darkroom’s network, offering artists from different disciplines the opportunity to work on individual projects. ‘Charlotte Padgham is a jeweller and visual artist, who on a previous residency reused waste materials from other workshops,’ mentioned Hannah. ‘She used electrolysis to conduct the silver from the fixer onto sculptures previously made, again with electrolysis, from discarded resin-coated papers with really beautiful results. It is amazing that even within this small network and community, we have already found ways to build different circular systems so that waste materials from one artist can become valuable to another. That is something we can keep building on.’