Today we feature the work of Aindreas Scholz whose portfolio was a Work of Merit in the 2023 Denis Roussel Awards.
“Your work is so strong conceptually and texturally… it must be exhilarating to be at play in the studio when everything is working. The “Most Beautiful Anthropocene”, a collaboration of cyanotypes and lumen printing, is a nice marriage of natural materials pushing sustainable, conceptual and integrated boundaries. The word Anthropocene is perfect here as a definition of our time when everything we do as human activities are the dominant influences of climate and the planet. The work is, for me, as if nature were given an assignment to explain it all and decided halfway into the project that it was pissed off and wanted to show it. Your work is a good messenger.” Christopher James
Would you please tell us about yourself?
I am a 42-year-old lecturer based in London, U.K., lecturing Art & Design and a workshop facilitator with a specialism in sustainable and analog photography.
Please tell us about the portfolio you submitted to the Denis Roussel Award.
My submitted portfolio is part of my emerging and ongoing photographic practice exploring alternative photographic processes including cyanolumen.
Please tell us about your process.
Cyanolumen combines two Victorian photographic processes – cyanotype and lumen – by coating expired photographic darkroom paper with light-sensitive cyanotype chemicals. Termed ‘Slow Photography’, manual techniques and working methods work slower in response to the physical materials of the image.
Do you enjoy the process itself or is it just a means to an end?
Through this process, I have learned to develop patience and resilience. Learnings from failed outcomes are carefully analyzed and studied informing my next steps until I have achieved a desired outcome. This is something that I have learned to enjoy and appreciate.
How long have you been practicing this process?
I have been practicing analog and alternative photographic processes since 2017. I only recently started to experiment with the cyanolumen process itself with some promising outcomes.
Do you have a mentor or a teacher who has helped your journey?
As a qualified teacher myself, I had some great mentors and teachers supporting me in what was initially a very challenging journey. A source of continuous inspiration is Dr. Anthony Haughey, my thesis supervisor, who reminded me that ‘nothing is ever written in stone’, meaning that change is always possible leading to great new discoveries.
How do you work through times when nothing seems to work?
My photographic and site-specific practice is highly experimental and I can never truly predict any outcomes. However, times when nothing seems to work enable me to think more critically about why this may be. In fact, I embrace this time as it pushes me to carefully reflect on my methods and methodologies to date.
What part of image-making do you find the most rewarding?
The most rewarding part of image-making is the process itself and witnessing, for example, how certain chemical procedures interact with each other making images in unexpected ways. This has also opened up fruitful conversations and critical dialogues with others that keep challenging my perceptions.
What tools have you found essential in the making of your work?
Some of the most helpful tools in making cyanolumens are in fact renewable resources including seawater, sunlight, and plant specimens. I also work with cyanotype chemistry, an iron salt with very low toxicity levels, on expired photographic darkroom papers.
Is there something in photography that you would like to try in the future?
If possible, I would like to collaborate with other disciplines, benefitting from a cross-disciplinary approach to a more sustainable future darkroom.
What’s on the horizon?
In Old English, the word horizon was eaggemearc, or ‘eye-mark’, meaning the limit of one’s view. I anticipate that more and more people will soon open up their eyes to experience the limitless possibilities that alternative and analog photographic practices and processes play in perhaps reducing our global carbon footprint.
Thank you Aindreas Scholz.
To learn more about the work of Aindreas Scholz please visit his site by clicking on his name.
