anna andrejew
terra incognita, chapter I

my work consists of an ongoing number of explorations concerning the nature/culture divide. in this chapter i studied soil and my own body through a natural chemical process of chromatography: a photographic process that reveals the characteristics of the earth and its organic matter that exist beyond what the eye can see. the images are determined by the nature of the material rather than our perception of it. my work is not created but discovered.

in permaculture practice, chromatography is used to study soil. by using my own body (blood, saliva) for creation of some chromatographs, i can study both soil and my body in a similar manner. the images resulting from this experiment are not as crystal-clear as what we are generally used of the human-driven practice conventionally known as photography. but that is what i like about it: new and abstract imagery teaches viewers to accept a certain level of ambiguity and humbleness by not knowing it all. and it is that very experience that can help us understand our place in the larger ecosystem.

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