mom prepping collard greens (2017)
mom prepping greens, anthotype with emulsified collard greens on watercolor paper. UV 6 exposure 4.5 hrs (2023)
When I stopped eating meat 10 years ago I remember thinking about how I’d miss my Grandma’s collard greens. When I told her I didn’t eat meat anymore and she said “ Ok, well it’s some collard greens in the kitchen.” I repeated to her that I didn’t eat meat and she looked at me and said “It ain’t no meat in them greens—ain’t nothin but a lil fatback!” It was almost indignant. She was from South Carolina. She was also hilarious without even trying. I still love collard greens. My mama makes them for me with no fatback. I took this photo of my her prepping her greens a couple years ago. I decided to print the image using the anthotype process by creating a black and white positive of the photographs, using emulsified plant matter to to coat a surface—in this case, collard greens & cold pressed water color paper—and exposed it to the sun for several hours over the summer. The winter months are way more of a challenge to print anthotypes because you really need a UV 6 or better for a more defined image. But it’s not impossible. So yeah basically, I printed this image with of my mama prepping greens with collard green juice. Meta things. No fatback though.
-k