Sarah Schorr is the author and photographer of the new book Ephemeral Field Journal: Climate + Love (in Claude Monet's Garden). Her other work includes the book The Color of Water.
Q: What inspired you to create Ephemeral Field Journal?
A: Claude Monet designed and built his water garden as a sort of viewing space for painting light and time. In my work, I’ve been exploring how perception and contemplation is altered by bodies of water so I became curious about how I could spend some time in Monet’s water garden.
Through a fellowship with the Terra Foundation and then a Munn Artist Residency from the Versailles Foundation, I have had the special opportunity to work in all seasons and at all hours of the day in Monet’s garden.
As research for the project, I studied the ways the current gardeners manage the task of interpreting the spirit of Monet’s paintings while adapting week by week to the changing climate.
Q: What impact have Monet’s work and garden had on you?
A: Using the keys to the green gates of the water garden, I often felt like I was stepping into a painting by Monet. Particularly his late work, like the water lily panels at L’Orangerie, astounds me. They remind me of swimming and viewing the water from within.
The oval-shaped rooms with the panels inspired the shape of my cinemagraphs in the Ephemeral Field Journal project. Even in a crowded room, Monet’s paintings feel immersive, tranquil, and somehow intimate.
After spending time in his water garden, I wanted to transmit the feeling of this breathing landscape in a way that was both timeless and impermanent in its day-to-day delicacy.
Q: How were the book’s design and layout created?
A: I was very fortunate to work with the designer Aneta Kowalczyk. Aneta is a master of the book form–she seems to anticipate deftly how a book will feel and move in our hands. For example, I admire how she translated my cinemagraphs (moving images) with the series of stills in black at the end of the book.
Similarly, we both loved the idea of having no text on the cover of a white book about impermanence. Instead, we wanted just the imprint of a waterlily from Monet’s garden.
I sent her a photograph of the embossing that I made at a printing press in my friend Margo Ogden’s studio. I documented the ashes from the crushed flower as it changed form and she sent the cover design idea soon after this exchange.
Q: What do you hope people take away from the book?
A: I think the biggest compliment is time, attention, and consideration. Through collecting some of the fragile beauty from Monet’s garden, I am trying to open a conversation about the precarity of plants and water. I am also sharing some of the optimism that I found from witnessing the steady care of a garden and nature’s ability to adapt, grow, and thrive in uncertain times.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: Currently, I am the artist-in-residence at the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard University. I am working on a new project that flows out of swimming at Walden Pond and collaborating with CSWR Director/Professor Charles M. Stang (who wrote the accompanying essay in Ephemeral Field Journal).
I have always been interested in collaborating across disciplines. Through his elegant writing and inquiry, Charles brings a contemplative perspective to the project from his background in studying the ancient Mediterranean world.
With text and images, we are creating a philosophy of water. In this project, I am literally using drops of Walden water to explore contemplation in this historic setting.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: YES! I have some upcoming events that are open to the public and feature Ephemeral Field Journal:
Book Launch: Harvard CSWR September 30, 5:30 - 7pm
Festival: Ephemeral Field Journal featured at the Kehrer Verlag booth at ICP Photofest, New York City, October 2-5
Book Launch: Blik, Galleri Image, Denmark October 17-18
Exhibition: Leica Gallery Boston, Ephemeral Field Journal, January 9 - March 22
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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