We had the wonderful opportunity to talk to multidisciplinary artist and educator Anne Eder on this special Q&A for our Griffin State of Mind interview series. Eder has been an integral part of our education programming, generously offering her expertise on alternative photographic processes. We are thrilled to have her back for two unique workshops on lumen prints and cyanotype this summer both in person and online at the museum.
Keep reading to stay up to date with the artist’s latest ventures and insights.
Anne, thank you for this interview. Before we start, how have you been spending your summer?
Anne Eder: Well, it’s been a very busy summer. I have had public installations of sculptural work, a show at Vermont Center of Photography, and a panel presentation and workshop for the Experimental Photo Festival in Barcelona. I’ve taught nearly every day for a number of institutions. Not much down time. What time I get I spend with my fabulous chihuahua, The Brain, woods walking, doing research, and trying to find time for my own arts practice.
What is something you have been really excited to teach in your workshops lately?
Anne Eder: SO many things haha! I have my core classes in sustainable photography and plant-based printing that I will always love but I also teach a number of classes that are more about investigating new ways of making connections between media and disciplines. I love the crosslinking that happens when you see things as not separate, but part of the bigger picture.
Ephemerality is an important component in your art — something that stands in contrast to society’s mainstream production mindset. How has that manifested in your work lately?
Anne Eder: A good deal of the work I make is designed to go back to the earth. My sculptural work is organic, and after functioning as public art, it is allowed to decompose on site. When that isn’t possible I take it to my “Boneyard”, and there I can document the entropic phase photographically. It does make it harder for me as an artist in what is essentially a capitalistic art marketplace, but I need to walk my talk when it comes to a sustainable practice. Not all of my work is ephemeral—I do print platinum/palladium which is considered very permanent and stable, but realistically that’s only as stable as the paper it is printed on, how it’s stored, if it has been free of accidents like fire or flood. I think there are lots of ways to make art viewing even more visceral by embracing its ephemeral nature and durational constraints.
In an interview with Craig Stover at the ArtShow, you mentioned you’ve always sort of felt “out of the Zeitgeist.” Has that feeling changed? And what is the Zeitgeist today?
Anne Eder: I would say that the current Zeitgeist is about the political, and we do need work that addresses inequality, gender identity, climate change, and so many other concerns. However, it shouldn’t be all that is available. Art is so much more than that, so much bigger. It operates on a deeper level, fires the imagination, is appreciated in ways that are wordless, nonliteral, larger than our own bodies. There is also a place for wonder, inspiration, and contemplation. I don’t stay interested in work that tells me what to think, preferring that which invites me to ask questions and spend time deciphering layers of meaning. I also need tactility, and my work reflects that.
Given your interest in the natural world in shaping our core mythologies, from what myth-busting sessions would today’s society really benefit from? What about the art-world?
Anne Eder: I’m not entirely sure what you are asking here. Do you mean do we have myths that should be challenged? Of course, but I am more inclined to think of folklore, myth, and fairy tales as being positives in our lives, though admittedly there are those that show their age and consciously or unconsciously contribute to the codification of outdated social mores. In the art world — I challenge the myth of the archival, that is to say, to notion that art should last forever. Art will never be truly archival, and we are ephemeral beings, so it seems an unrealistic goal. I view art as experiential and time based, and also resist the commodification of the arts for many reasons.
Last but not least, what should the role of photography education be today?
Anne Eder: That’s a huge can of worms and there are a lot of angles to consider. I think that beyond the technical skills one expects from education that there needs to be an ethical education and exploration, especially in photography, which as a medium tends to have endemic ethical issues. These range among other things, from power dynamics and rights of the photographer and subject to the environmental impact of what we do. I also feel that education in general needs to be more empowering. Rather than trying to attain perfection, I prefer to allow for experimentation and encourage my students to make mistakes. The only way to discover anything new is to form a hypothesis and try to prove it. Inevitably, they will not all work, but that is what leads to invention. I think that as an educator I try to convey the spirit of discovery that dominated its inception as a medium, that excitement.
