slow still life
by Savannah Dodd
“slow still life” is about reconnecting with nature and slowing down to pay closer attention to the ordinary. It is also about unlearning perfectionism and the urge to be productive.
Through a slow and embodied creative process, I have sought emancipation from the “colonisation of the self by capitalist ideas of productivity and efficiency” (Odell, 2019: 14). Fanned by the gig economy and entrepreneurial culture in which creative people must necessarily participate, it is this drive toward productivity upon which capitalism relies. In this way, my work is not only personal, but political.
There is an inherent tension in this work: by creating these photographs, I have given into the urge to be productive. However, I have strived to do so in a self-conscious way, leaning into the slowness of analogue processes and embracing imperfection in the results. Moreover, instead of using traditional darkroom developer, which is toxic for people and the planet, I made my own developer from a tea of steeped bramble leaves that I foraged around my garden.
Although this project speaks to universal themes, there is specificity to this work: all of the photographs in this series were taken around my home on the Ards Peninsula, and the photographs have been made using materials found in the local environment. By making my own nontoxic chemistry from materials found in the natural environment, I am cultivating my own relationship with nature.
Funding
This work was initiated through my participation in the Land Narratives Study Group with Hanna-Katrina Jędrosz, organised by the Land Art Agency. My participation in this group was funded by the Ards and North Down Borough Council. This project received further funding for exhibition at the Ards Art Centre in September 2023 from the Richard and Siobhan Coward Foundation.
ABOUT THE CREATOR
Creator photo by Alison Baskerville
Savannah Dodd, PhD, is a visual artist and anthropologist. Originally from St. Louis, she is now based in Northern Ireland. Her work has been exhibited in the USA, the UK, Ireland, and Thailand. She has received grants and awards locally, nationally, and internationally.
Savannah founded the Photography Ethics Centre in 2017 with the aim of raising awareness about the ethics of photographic practices. She sits on the board of Source Magazine, on the UK committee of the Ethical Journalism Network, and on the ethics panel for the Environmental Photographer of the Year Award.
Her work has been featured in the Belfast Telegraph, Newtownards Chronicle, Feature Shoot, Amateur Photographer, and PetaPixel. She has been interviewed on BBC Radio 3, Dublin City FM, Documentary Storytellers Podcast, and The Beginner Photography Podcast. She has been quoted in Artnet and The New Statesman, among others.
Visit her website: savannahdodd.com. @savannahdoddphoto on Instagram.