Film-Based Land Art

Artist Statement

Beatrice Thornton is an Oakland-based artist working in black and white film photography through the lens of bioregionalism. Since returning to her home state from New York in 2018, she has been building an art practice centered around sustainable analog photographic processes. 

Beatrice develops film and prints in her home darkroom, creating developer recipes and using ingredients that include foraged plants, rainwater, and low toxicity household ingredients in place of traditional darkroom chemicals. Her evolving photographic style mainly depicts her local landscape, often through in-camera double exposures. She pairs developers with plants featured in or that grow within the landscape pictured. 

Beatrice sees developing with plants as a circular process where the art she produces is as much about process as it is the final objects. Her work is a continual practice of learning about photography and about native and invasive plants in her home bioregion and beyond. 

Beatrice holds a BA in art history and French from New York University and took darkroom courses at Parsons School of Design and NYU. She received an MA in decorative arts, design history, and material culture from Bard Graduate Center, and holds a certificate in archives and records management from Long Island University. She grew up in Mill Valley and lives in Oakland, CA. Her work is included in private collections and has been exhibited locally in the Bay Area.