Selected works
Legacies of Photographic Silver
The City That Kodak Built
a:yetíya' dágeha’ [We Should Help Her]
Scarify
Red. Lined.
Desert Treasure
Among The Weeds And The Waste
[de]compose
LAND / SEAS / SUN
Breathe
©2024 Alice Cazenave
2024
Series of eight 5” x 7” gelatin silver prints
- Printed with plant-based photo-chemistry
A series examining the ecologies that absorb and withstand the extensive chemical pollution from Kodak industrial sites in Rochester, New York. While celebrated for his philanthropy, Kodak founder George Eastman’s legacy extends beyond the arts and music institutions that he supported financially.
Spanning decades, Kodak’s atmospheric and heavy metal pollution was extreme. Today, its main toxic landfill takes the form of a gated lawn-covered hill, flanked by highways and two residential homes. The City That Kodak Built is a series printed with plant photo-chemistry made from sweet pea growing from outside the gates of the landfill. Lawn cuttings from Kodak founder George Eastman’s mansion were also used to develop the photographs.
The use of these plants opens up conversations about Kodak’s chemical legacy, how its wealth was distributed in the city, and how plants reflect and indicate these realities. The prints depict Eastman’s philanthropic projects including the Memorial Art Gallery, Eastman School of Music, as well as abandoned Kodak industrial sites and the parking lots that surround them.
Kodak land fill, Greece, Western New York
George Eastman Mansion & Gardens, Rochester, New York . Donated Kodak E200