Climate Change Activist Greta Thunberg Is Eternalized Using A 150-Year-Old Photography Technique

Greta Thunberg may be the most talked-about 16-year-old today. After her famous speech at the UN Climate Summit, she found a way into the public’s consciousness and has even angered some of the most powerful people on Earth. The Swedish climate activist is trying to shed a light on the environmental crisis and accuses world leaders of failing her generation. Thus, it’s no surprise that Greta decided to visit Standing Rock – a place where the historic 2016 uprising took place as indigenous groups were fighting the Dakota Access oil pipeline. It was where she met with Shane Bolkowitsch – a wet plate photographer who takes mesmerizing portraits of Northern Plains Native Americans for his project “Northern Plains Native Americans: A Modern Wet Plate Perspective.” During their 20 minute meet-up, the photographer was able to capture two powerful portraits of the 16-year-old environmental activist.

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Wet plate photographer Shane Bolkowitsch took two Greta Thunberg portraits at Standing Rock

Image credits: Shane Balkowitsch

“Haunting, wonderful,” someone commented on Facebook. “I’m speechless. You captured how strong yet peaceful she is,” another person noted. In the Standing Rock, Greta was honored by tribal leaders for her initiative to fight climate change. During the closing ceremony, the 16-year-old activist was given a Lakota Native American name “Maphiyata echiyatan his win” which translates as “woman who came from the heavens.”

He called this portrait “Standing For Us All”

Image credits: Shane Balkowitsch

Below this portrait, Shane wrote on his Facebook page: “Standing For Us All” is the name I have chosen for this wet plate of Greta Thunberg. This image has been shared hundreds of times with thousands of likes in the past 24 hours. Before she left us yesterday, I asked her father Svante a question. I asked him, “What can I do for Greta and her cause?” He explained to me that I have already done my role by taking her wet plate. His only request was that the images be shared with the world along with Greta’s message: “People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are at the beginning of mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you.”

Greta was given a Lakota Native American name which translates as “woman who came from the heavens”

Image credits: Shane Balkowitsch

The wet plate process is a photographic process commonly used in the mid-19th century. It consists of employing a glass photographic plate that’s coated with iodized collodion and dipped in a silver nitrate solution immediately before use. This early photographic technique was invented by Englishman Frederick Scott Archer in 1851. Even nowadays, there are many photographers who rely on the wet plate technique as it provides powerful portraits and one-of-a-kind results.

Shane Balkowitsch is the artist behind the project “Northern Plains Native Americans: A Modern Wet Plate Perspective”

Image credits: Shane Balkowitsch

He uses a 150-year-old photographic process for his artwork

Image credits: Shane Balkowitsch

Shane has devoted himself to mastering the old photographic technology since 2012

Image credits: Shane Balkowitsch

The wet plate process was invented back in 1851

Image credits: Shane Balkowitsch

It is valued for its ability to achieve high levels of detail and clarity

Image credits: Shane Balkowitsch

Shane is one of the fewer than 1,000 wet plate collodion artists practicing around the world

Image credits: Shane Balkowitsch

His works are shown off in prestigious institutions, including the Smithsonian Institution

Image credits: Shane Balkowitsch

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