Forest, Analogue

Forest, Analogue was shot on black-and-white 16mm film in a woodland and hand-processed with a plant developer made mainly from nettles gathered near the filming site. The final cameraless section was made using phytogram techniques, in which plants are placed directly onto the film surface, leaving images through contact, pressure and chemistry. Through a fictional voiceover, the work imagines a roll of 16mm film found in an ancient forest, carrying its own memory as if searching for its ancestor.

The work explores the materiality of analogue film and its relationship with the natural world. It began with the cellulose acetate base used in many analogue motion-picture film stocks, a material often derived from wood pulp. Returning the film to the forest became a way of tracing one of its material origins, bringing the film material back into contact with the plants and wood from which part of its material history can be traced.

The process also raises questions about how film might be made and processed more sustainably. The plant developer offers one small possibility, while other parts of the film material, such as gelatin in the emulsion and polyester in print stock, remain more difficult to resolve. These questions stay within the work, alongside the images themselves.