Siobhán Byrns portfolio received Special Recognition in the 2024 Denis Roussel Award.
” My very first reaction to your portfolio was to write a tribute reference to my friend Binh Dahn….. I’m sure you know his work and like Binh, your technical skill and craft is very special and simply enhances the focus you have applied of working dirty with your hands… with materials the earth provides. As well, your regard for the social and political pressures weighing on women and the environment, and the ephemeral reality of their life-giving existence, is beautifully respected by the quality of your work. Chlorophyll image creation from positives has become increasingly popular and very much in concert with low-consumption image marking… I really like your work and urge you to work more with multiple substrate combinations as in your piece, Keep Them Closed. This is one of my favorite works in this year’s competition.” Christopher James
Would you please tell us about yourself?
My name is Siobhán Byrns and I am an artist who works multiple alternative processes, camera formats and non photographic mediums. I am also a Full Professor of Photography in Virginia, but I am currently in the process of moving to Portland, Maine. I am an alumna of The Maryland Institute, College of Art and The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and current Masters Candidate for an MLIS. At a time when darkrooms and wet labs are rapidly being replaced by all digital and online learning, I have a belief in teaching students of all ages the power of image making and getting your hands dirty. My current research stems from sustainable darkroom practices and alternative process techniques that focus on current social and political pressures on women and the environment.
Please tell us about the portfolio you submitted to the Denis Roussel Award.
Chlorophyll printing is an alternative photographic process where photographic images are developed on natural leaves through the action of photosynthesis. This organic technique was pioneered by the artist Binh Danh. This unique process does not use chemicals since the photographs are exposed directly to the sunlight on plants or tree leaves. For this series I use several varieties of hosta plant leaves. Hostas are prized due to their ability to thrive with little to no sunlight and are referred to as the “Queens of Shade.” Native to China, Japan, and Korea, hostas came to America via Europe in the 1800 for purely decorative uses. Thematically, my work is an attempt to raise awareness of the fragility of nature and the human experience focusing on the roles females are assigned. This is a deep investigation into the natural phenomena of our emotional attachment with beauty, love, and the modern relationship and an exploration in oppositional and contradictory aspects of human nature and culture, including the tropes of life and death.
I consider much of the work to behave like a fleeting memory, a lost love, an unfixed photograph. This is how I found myself attracted to the Chlorophyll print.
This particular series was born from the knowledge that butterflies and some species of bees have an unexpected reason to fly and drink the tears of crocodiles and even birds. Evidence suggests that crocodile and bird tears offer these flying insects scarce minerals and a boost of protein, in what basically amounts to a harmless parasitic relationship. From the surface we see this as beautiful or harmless but do we ever consider the battle or the emotional toll of this affair? It is not a relationship. It is not equal. It is temporary and it comes at a cost.
Please tell us about your process.
In the work I included in this portfolio, my exposures can take as long as two days. The Hostas are used because I wanted a nonnative plant, that was decorative, not used for food or manufacturing but only desired for its looks and ability to survive in darkness. Each work grows, strays, decays – as integral parts of a cycle. In the beginning the photograph shows the piece at its height, marking the moment when it is most alive. Process and decay are implicit in anything after that moment. I have been able to preserve work in resin and in wax, but ideally my installations are meant to be ephemeral and momentary relationships as if they were human.
What is the most frustrating part of the process?
The most frustrating part of the chlorophyll process is the availability of hostile leaves. in the area I live they are considered a delicacy for the local deer population and I tend to only print from May until October. I have yet to master the art of producing these leaves with artificial blue light, and conceptually I think the controlled light source takes away from the pieces.
The work is fragile and I have accidentally destroyed several masterpieces in the process of transporting, preserving or attempting to dry the leaves. I also have a daily battle with mold and moisture and natural bleaching, both in the works creation exhibitions and storage.
Do you enjoy the process itself or is it just a means to an end?
I have been working with plant-based work, particularly flowers and leaves since my time in Chicago when I was doing my MFA in photography at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I had a complex relationship and fascination with the iconography of flowers and cultural gestures of affection and my work reflected that.
The chlorophyll print was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen exhibited. I first saw Binh Danh’s Chlorophyll prints in 2015, in a joint exhibition of text and image, War Memoranda: Photography, Walt Whitman and Renewal, at the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, Virginia. I instantly fell in love with the concept as well as the quality of the work.
Do you have a mentor or a teacher that has helped your journey?
I owe so much of my practice to a community of artist friends who have been there to challenge me and critique the work. I could not make the work I do without my graduate school mentors Joyce Neimans and Barbara DeGenieve, and the constant guidance of Morgan Post, Gillian Power-Deppeler and Laura Hsieh. Morgan Post is an artist, author, teacher and friend who still talks me through technical issues and chemical hiccups in my historic processes and odd ideas. Laura Hsieh is a ceramic artist, teacher and amazing writer who has pushed me to leave the darkroom and promote my work, and Gillian Power-Deppeler has been my cheerleader and friend since we met in graduate school in Chicago.
How do you work through times when nothing seems to work?
There is a legend that Michelangelo’s last words at the age of 87 were, “Ancora imparo,” a Latin phrase which translates to “I am still learning”.
The way that I was raised, I have always focused on the idea that failure is not an option. If the work is not conveying the message or meaning, then I’m not using the right words, the correct approach. I don’t identify as a photographer but as an artist. I don’t feel as if I should limit myself to just light sensitive mediums, when the answer may lie in painting, text, animation or 3D installation. Too many artists limit themselves to a process. Personally, I adore process and feel sometimes I get lost in the joy of the steps and forget to focus on the meaning. Artists have so many options to learn, share and communicate now. I will forever be a student. I will never stop craving new ideas, new information on processes or mediums. Failure is not an option, the work is just asking me to find a new path.
What part of image-making do you find the most rewarding?
I think most artists deal with a love/hate relationship with their work. For the longest time I could not introduce myself as an artist. I would hide behind my publications or academic position. How dare I put myself in the same level as those I admired in this field?. I tend not to hang my own artwork around me. I will always find an imperfection or think of a way that it could be better. but sometimes and I hate to admit that it is rare, I will look at something I created and feel a sense of pride. It doesn’t happen often, but those moments are what keep me going.
What tools have you found essential in the making of your work?
Time. Time is the greatest luxury we have in this world, and it is never enough. Time with those we love, time in the studio, time to sit in silence with your thoughts, it is never enough.
Is there something in photography that you would like to try in the future?
A friend, Ross Knapper introduced me to stanhopes and I adore the history, as well as seeking originals out. I am always so curious about the women in these images. I am also very attracted to painted miniatures and the eye portraits of the 1700s.
What’s on the horizon?
I have a solo show The Green Ribbon opening at the Daura Museum of Art in Virginia. It will open in March 2025 and I spend every spare moment preparing for it. At the same time I am packing my life up here and moving to Maine. I am originally from the east coast and I am beyond excited to return there.
To learn more about the work of Siobhán Byrns please click on her name.
