As a photojournalist and artist, Parente uses photography to give a voice to marginalised people, forgotten landscapes and unconventional photographic processes. His aim is to reveal the essence of his subjects through refined, historically inspired photographic printing techniques carried out by hand.
"Primaire | Ardotypes From The Forest" is an exhibition by Alessandro Parente, who, with this presentation, has been welcomed into the ranks of the artists already represented by the gallery.
The exhibition presents 11 unique works created over several years using "Ardotype", an innovative technique Parente developed in 2022 during an artist residency in the Ardennes region. By adapting the 1851 wet collodion process to slate - the material that gives the region its name - rather than glass or metal, he combines analogue photography with the unpredictability of a natural material.
Ardotype is a complex technique that requires mastery not only of the photographic process, but also of a natural material that allows for unpredictability. During the process, a collodion solution containing photosensitive salts is applied to the surface of the slate and sensitised with silver nitrate. The plate is then exposed and developed while the surface is still damp, making each step particularly delicate and sensitive to the characteristics of the substrate.
The stone, quarried from the local mine at Alle-sur-Semois and containing fossil and mineral inclusions, provides the backdrop to images etched in silver, which depict a deeply humanised forest struggling to return to its original state and status as a primary forest - that is, a forest composed of native tree species and devoid of any visible traces of human activity.
It is no coincidence that Parente's research stems from the project of French botanist and biologist Francis Hallé to regenerate a primary forest in Western Europe, including the Ardennes region.
While we await the realisation of this project, the images from the Primaire series persist, articulating a natural world that, amidst the expanses of monocultures and the indications of human intervention, perpetually endeavours to re-establish the heterogeneity that is its quintessence.
