I Used A 160-Year-Old Photo Process To Reveal A World Of Witchcraft

I am an analog photographer. I always have been – I began processing film in my mother’s darkroom when I was 14 years old. As my favorite types of film were discontinued, I found myself moving further back in time to the roots of photography. In 2008 I learned the wet plate collodion process, which involves making a negative on a piece of glass. It’s all very involved and prone to all types of unusual effects.

Besides photography, my other long-time interest has been the mysterious – the unknown, the invisible and the “occult.” So when I began using the wet plate process I realize that it was perfectly suited to represent the type of witchcraft put forward by the old witch-hunting manuals like the Malleus Maleficarum: powerful women, in touch with nature living outside of society. While these books proposed that this was something bad, I couldn’t help but see something very strong in this characterization.

Last year, a book of this series named “Earth Magic” was published by Fulgur Limited.

More info: rikgarrett.com

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