Curated by Larry Lee
Mari Miller: The Land Loves Us sends us a timely and universal message of nature’s love for us. It was an exhibition featuring the alternative photography process of chromatography, with select prints also combined with cyanotypes.
Mari Miller’s approach is interdisciplinary, often combining creative processes with science and history. The work is unique in its use of two alternative photographic techniques to connect us with nature. Chromatography is used by farmers to determine the components and health of the soil. A series of chromatograms of various plants ranging from Miller’s favorite tea grown in Taishan, chives grown in a local community garden plot, to pears grown in a cousin’s garden will be on display. Miller has also used chromatography to tone cyanotypes, which are a type of photographic blueprint, producing a novel combination of the two processes.
This show helps us to visualize what she sees as the qi of the soil and the plants that nourish us. As consumers of what grows from the land, we are the beneficiaries of nature’s love for us which transcends, at times as history informs us of, our difficult diasporic nature regardless of where we are. It is this love from the land that Miller believes will save us, our freedom, and the earth.
Meet the Artist
