First published on 14 May 2021
Photosynthesis by Ben Felten
A video on Ben Felten's photography project Photosynthesis, directed and edited by Michele Galeotto.
Modern urban life drives an insidious notion that humans are apart from nature, rather than a part of nature. We live most of our lives parallel to the natural world; our interactions with it are limited and inorganic.
'It is a sad thing to think that nature speaks and the human species does not listen' said Victor Hugo. This perceptual divide is what drove Ben Felten to explore a visual blend of human bodies and natural textures through the medium of analog double exposures. That there is beauty in human bodies and beauty in nature are nothing new. That a blend of the two expresses the beauty of both is maybe more unusual. As the project progressed, Felten realised that cyanotype was the obvious output expression for this work: it's the earliest photographic printing method, one used initially to capture natural textures through the works of Anna Atkins from 1843 onwards. It is also a technique that is revealed by sunlight, just like photosynthesis reveals plant life on earth. It's all one with nature, as are we.