Shelley Lawrence Kirkwood

Anthotype is an image-making technique that traces back to the origins of photography in the 19th century. This process utilizes natural pigments extracted from flowers to create a light-sensitive emulsion. Once coated onto paper, the emulsion is exposed to sunlight over the course of several days or even weeks. The resulting images—ephemeral, delicate, and deeply tied to the passage of time—become lyrical distillations of place, memory, and a specific lifecycle.

After exposure, I scan these prints and digitally alter them, producing the final giclée prints that preserve both the fragility and the essence of the original works.

There is an intentional reciprocity in the process—an image of a plant made with the plant—that evokes ideas of mutual witnessing and shared presence. Plants, like humans, carry memory, respond to stimuli, and, as some research suggests, may even possess a form of consciousness.

There is also a spiritual dimension to this work: an invitation to feel one’s humanity within a more-than-human world. The soft, fading, and often grainy or blurred quality of the images gestures toward impermanence, reminding us of the transient and ever-changing nature of life. In this way, the work serves as both meditation and memento—an acknowledgment that we are part of a vast, interconnected living system, constantly in flux.

Cala Lily

Anthotype to giclée print

16 x 20”

2024