Pencils of Nature

Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey have described the materials that make up their 'three-dimensional photography' as 'pencils of nature.' The Surrey, England based duo didn't invent this term; it was the name of an 1844 book by pioneer photographer William Henry Fox Talbot. Ackroyd and Harvey admit that their photography is greatly inspired by his work and ethos towards nature. They expose plots of seedling grass to light through a custom-made negative, which makes the grass grow in varying shades--from dull yellow to dark green. After a couple of weeks, when the growing process is complete--almost as if by divine intervention--faces or landscapes seem to appear in the grass. Just as miraculously as these lawn images emerge, so do they degrade over a short period of time--especially the fresh-air pieces. Talbot's aim was to capture nature's fleeting beauty and fix it on paper. But ultimately, photographs fade. So does grass.
Ackroyd and Harvey are painfully aware of this fact. For over a decade they've been fine-tuning this process, and for over a decade they've had to face the reality of its deterioration. Death and decay are key components and themes of their work. But, much like traditional photography, grass photography also has a life support system. While the actual piece can fade away and dry up, the negative and the process remain, providing future generations with the means and instructions to re-create that which has fallen into the clutches of mortality. "I don't think it will die out with our death," says Ackroyd. As much as the couple's work is about letting go, and experiencing decay as a natural process, human nature and the will to preserve often go hand in hand. More recently, the couple has been working actively with scientists at the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research in Wales to create 'stay green,' a form of grass that lasts longer than the regular material and is grown from a genetically modified seed.
All good creative intentions aside, it can't be too easy to sell highly degradable photography. "There's something very elusive about it, which is its power," Ackroyd chimes in. Apparently private collectors are interested in commissioning her and Harvey to do pieces for them. The grass team is only too happy to accommodate but tags in a disclaimer that if the client buys a piece he/she must keep it in low light or the image will fade sooner than later. "It requires a fluidity of sorts and an ability to accept some degree of transience within the art object," she adds.
This isn't the first time this sort of issue has come up with commercial art. Ackroyd sites the controversy over Mark Rothko's paintings having changed color through the decades. And of course there is the infamous story of the Marcel Duchamp piece that got cracked in transit to the Museum of Modern Art. The French Dada artist was delighted by the serendipity and incorporated it in his work.
Read PHOTOSYNTHESIS (original, unedited version) By Shana Ting Lipton
(Edited version published in Wraparound magazine, 2003, with the assistance of Paul Gachot) at http://www.shanatinglipton.com/grass.html and part 2 here http://www.shanatinglipton.com/grass2.html


http://www.ct-graphics.com/other/green-grass-2653.html
http://www.ct-graphics.com/lifestyle-occupation/page2.html


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