Anna Leigh Clem‘s work Dreamland, a project exploring nature throughout the barren shores of Canada’s Prince Edward Island, is currently on display at the Griffin Museum of Photography’s exhibition Elemental Blues at the Griffin’s satellite gallery at Lafayette City Center, from April 1st through June 30th. We had the fantastic opportunity to sit down and chat with her via email this week about her misty, dream-like cyanotypes, and her responses are as follows.
Please join us on the following dates for an online conversation with the artists:
May 21st Panel: Sally Chapman, Julia Whitney Barnes, and Anna Leigh Clem.
May 28th Panel: Brett Windham, Bryan Whitney, and Cynthia Katz.
Anna Leigh Clem (1990, NY) is an artist and educator working in photography, text, book arts, video, and other media to investigate the nature of ephemerality. Compelled by the ineffable secrets embedded in memories, dreams, and the natural world, her work makes tangible these otherwise invisible realms. Clem currently lives and works on the North Shore of Boston and holds a Master of Fine-Arts in photography and integrated media from Lesley University (2021) and a Bachelor of Fine-Arts in photography from Rochester Institute of Technology (2012). She received a Grant for Creative Individuals from Mass Cultural Council in 2025. Her work has been shown both nationally and internationally, at venues such as Bromfield Gallery, the Center for Photography at Woodstock, Foley Gallery, Visual Studies Workshop, and Elysium Gallery. She has published both trade edition books and artist’s books, several of which are held in collections at The Griffin Museum of Photography, Yale University, SMFA, SVA, and Pratt Institute. She has taught college-level courses at Northeastern University, Lesley University, Endicott College, and Montserrat College of Art.
Follow Anna Leigh Clem | Instagram: @aapertura
You work on the North Shore of Massachusetts and in Prince Edward Island on Canada’s Atlantic coast. Has both areas’ proximity to the ocean and far-Northeastern seaside culture influenced your work?
Anna Leigh Clem: Wherever I live, I am held by that place and immerse myself in it through my work. That being said, the ocean is such a mysterious and unpredictable being, I can’t help but be in awe of it. While it is not often the subject of my work, working near the ocean has energized and inspired me. It is most directly linked to the Dreamland series because the ocean helped create the dune system that the project is centered around.
Given that the 1880 Meachams Atlas labeled this region as “Barren Land,” how does your work subvert colonial or extractive cartographic narratives? In what ways do you see Dreamland functioning as a kind of “counter-map”?
ALC: Being “useful” has, in the western sense, hardly ever included beauty for its own sake. Dreamland, while visually strange, is mysterious, awe-inspiring, and full of life. My cyanotypes seek to portray this point of view through imagery and tonality. Because Dreamland was spared from resource extraction, it is now one of the more ecologically diverse and sensationally interesting places on the island, which is priceless considering how much has been lost to extraction and exploitation.
Since your work physically incorporates the place (through foraged toners and objects), how does that make the photographic image more directly connected to the real world or the subject it represents, strengthening or even challenging its indexicality?
ALC: With the toned prints, we can see an image of place and we know the plant matter sourced from this place is embedded in the fibers of the print, also visible in the color shift. The unframed prints also allow you to touch this place, and in some cases even smell it. This multi-faceted indexicality bridges the gap created by the inclusion of digital processes (scanning the film and making the large digital negatives for cyanotype printing) and creates a more immersive experience. The prints feel alive and no two are the same.
Have you developed a personal brew for toning your photographs, and if so, can you guide us through the process?
ALC: Yes—I particularly like the results I have gotten with strawberry leaf, which, depending on the temperature and pH level of the water and where the plant is collected from, among other factors, can yield a blue-green, dusty blue, grey, black, or brown print. Collect 15–30g of fresh strawberry leaves, often found in human-disturbed areas, and steep them in 2–4L of boiling hot water for 20+ minutes. Quantities depend on the size of the print tray. Strain the brew into the tray and steep your print for 10 minutes to several hours, checking regularly until you are pleased with the results. Rinse well.
What piece is most important to you (in this collection) that you want to highlight/spotlight?
ALC: Teeth Grow in the Heathland was an exciting image to make because of the thrill of finding this boneyard in the middle of a thicket in Dreamland. I enjoy the life / death duality depicted in the image.
Looking at the other artists in the exhibition, what artworks have caught your attention, and why?
ALC: I love Cynthia Katz’s multi-paneled pieces, where the forms are disjointed and come back together in unexpected ways. The work is enigmatic, and I want to keep looking.
Willow Simon (b. June 28th, 2005)
Willow Simon is a rising sophomore at Wesleyan University, currently majoring in English and History, and planning on minoring in Middle Eastern Studies. She specializes in journalism and creative writing and is passionate about working in audio.
Griffin Museum of Photography – Winchester, Massachusetts
The Griffin Museum @ Lafayette City Center Passageway – Boston, Massachusetts
