Film Soup : Invasive
I have always been very connected to materiality in making. The mode of making needed to have a process that I felt resolved the outcome. When I introduced souping into film, I was able to connect to photography in a way I hadn’t felt I could before. Having a need to address environmental change, I turned to connecting planting to the environments I was photographing.
Charlotte was the perfect subject. I am technically a native - I was born and raised in Charlotte and have seen it change rapidly. Developers seem to have more interest in shoving as many people in the city as possible than holding onto the city’s history and people. Charlotte experienced a large amount of growth even through the pandemic years which put even more stress on Mom & Pops and low-income areas as the city spread. Simultaneously, a lack of ordinances on tree-planting and the increase in construction has caused a shift in our urban canopy from native shade trees to those that are non-native and purely ornamental. I noticed this parallel of experience between the native Charlotteans and the plants so I took this opportunity to combine them through the method of souping.
For this project, I tried a different process of souping in which I soaked the roll BEFORE exposing it. This was totally nerve-wracking, but being a novice photographer has its benefits and it allows me the space to be experimental without thinking about “rules”.
I soaked the film for 24 hours and let it dry for 2 weeks before use in hopes that it would be completely dried out. I stuck the film in my Konica Autoreflex TC as I would be the least devastated if something happened to that camera.
Shooting this pre-soaked roll of film was interesting to say the least. The beginning of the roll felt stiff but was able to advance. However, as I went, the film began to stick in the camera and I knew I was going to get some empty slides or double exposures.
Above are some of those “empty” exposures.
What I’ve learned about souping is: expect nothing, embrace everything.
The stiff film lead to a lot of double/triple/quadruple exposures. Film slides run into each other and sometimes I have no idea when or how information was collected. Below you see an example of what looks like four shots all melted into one.
Simultaneously, some slides became cut off as you see below.
The overall effect of this film soup is completely disjointed, and disorienting. I was so happy about these results. The sensibility of the film soup completely reflects the experience of those native businesses I captured. Each piece shows the disruption felt by natives of the area, overshadowed by rapid changes and leaving their ghosts floating above.
