To create these images, I collected items from my kitchen compost bin and arranged them in simple compositions. These remnants of our everyday activities are the unique subject in my photographs. Through the artistic process, they are transformed from mundane waste into extraordinary images. This transformation mirrors the one that occurs naturally through the composting process: wasted food scraps become a valuable soil amendment.
This series of images was produced using two different photographic processes: wet-plate collodion photography and lumen printing. I chose these two techniques primarily because they both produce unique pieces that I choose not to reproduce. This allows me to clearly proclaim the importance and showcase the intrinsic value of my subjects. In addition, I was drawn to wet-plate collodion photography because of its particular timeless aesthetic. As a result, the photographs have an interesting duality: they illustrate a more modern issue while resembling images from the past. For the lumen prints, the images are both the result of shadows cast by the vegetables and fruits on the paper, and chemical reactions between the organic matter and the chemicals contained in the emulsion of the photographic support. They offer a metaphor to composting, where the process involves numerous chemical and physical reactions.
Like many, I am concerned by the deterioration of our environment. Specific environmental issues are difficult to solve in isolation as all things are connected. My photographs, by emphasizing the beauty of mundane food waste, offer a counterpoint to the complexity of the problems we have to face. In addition, as composting food waste reduces the amount of greenhouse gases emitted from landfills, the photographs highlight one personal action that is a small piece of an overall climate solution.
Denis Roussel
EXHIBITION
So much beauty, in my compost
March 1st – 31st
ArtworkNetwork Gallery
878 Santa Fe Drive
Denver, CO 80204
USA
