Seaweed Developer

2023

35mm developed with seaweed

During 2023 I began documenting the intertidal zone at Mākara beach on 35mm and processing the film using a homemade seaweed developer and ocean water as the final fixative. These images are the most successful photographs imaged by the seaweed, resulting in a kind of oceanic self-portrait. The intertidal zone is a liminal space that rhythmically scrambles boundaries of salt water and land. The Mākara Beach tidal waters recede twice every day. The water performs a continual cycle of wetting and drying. The ocean approaches the land and then retreats from it, exposing a myriad of organisms to the sun and air. During low tide, one can wander this biological edge, lying between the high and low tide marks, and take in the non-human life forms that have washed ashore. Soon, a new tide will occur, rearranging the assemblages of colour, texture and form.