MFA program blends art and sustainability in growing photographic garden

During the fall 2024 semester, RIT’s MFA in photography and related media hosted Alice Cazenave as a visiting scholar for its Art and Sustainability series. 

‌

The RIT Photo Garden sprouted for the first time over the summer.

Cazenave, a photographic artist, scholar and doctoral researcher at Goldsmiths, University of London, led workshops for the RIT community focused on the convergence of photography and sustainability. 

Cazenave's research is centered on the chemical and social worlds of photographic industries. She examines the afterlives of photographic metals and chemistries, and how they change people's lives and ecologies. 

The events built on her research, allowing students to explore the potential of using plants to make low-toxicity photographic chemistries. Cazenave’s visit inspired the photography and related media MFA program to begin growing its own sustainable photographic garden. It contains plants that students and faculty can use for various photographic processes, including developing, chlorophyll printing, and heavy metal remediation.

‌

Caitlyn Daproza '26

Alice Cazenave gave RIT artists a tutorial on how to make their own photographic gardens during a multi-week visit to campus in February and March of 2024.

‌

Caitlyn Daproza '26

RIT's photography and related media MFA program's commitment to sustainable practices now includes its own photographic garden, grown in direct response to Cazenave's workshops.