Eleonora
Busato
Views from the Ground,
2025
From the series Views from the Ground
Iron-salt solar print with plant-based toning, made with bramble leaves and elderberries, on cotton paper
2025
11.5 × 8.6 cm
From the series Views from the Ground
Iron-salt solar print with plant-based toning, made with bramble leaves and nettles on cotton paper
2025
11.5 × 8.6 cm
Developed during the Testemobili collective thematic residency Infestanti (Infesting) in Valdagno, Vicenza, Views from the Ground explores the complex dialogue between geography, vegetation, and human perception through alternative photographic processes.
As part of field-based research investigating the local landscape, invasive plants—including bramble leaves, nettles, and elderberries—serve not only as ‘subjects’ but actively contribute to the creation of cyanotype prints with plant-based toning, shaping both color and texture. The resulting images transform marginal vegetation into visual and symbolic protagonists, revealing the subtle resilience and occurrence embedded in the environment.
The project investigates how belief, memory, and perception influence the way landscapes are experienced and interpreted. Within a region marked by urban dispersion, infrastructural scars, and the disappearance of rural spaces, these prints illuminate traces of endurance and continuity, highlighting the tensions between fragility and resilience, loss and potential renewal.
The process itself enacts a form of collaboration between light, material, and landscape. Each plant contributes to the final image, allowing its inherent qualities to guide the tonality, texture, and expressive potential of the print. The work thus occupies a liminal space between observation and interpretation, where the landscape is simultaneously recorded and reimagined.
This series continues a broader exploration of the ecological and spiritual dimensions of place, reflecting on how attention, care, and ethical engagement can be enacted through photographic practice. By foregrounding the role of marginal vegetation, the work transforms what might be overlooked into a locus of contemplation, asserting the enduring significance of the natural world even in contexts of environmental and cultural fragility.
From the series Views from the Ground
Iron-salt solar print with plant-based toning, made with plantain, nettles and mint leaves on cotton paper
2025
11.5 × 8.6 cm
Exhibition view, Views from the Ground, part of the collective exhibition Infestanti, Parco Ex Inceneritore, Valdagno, August 2025.