Brittany Rose Bradley

Photo by Kayleigh McCollum

Brittany R. Bradley is an award-winning alternative process photographer and an established museum and gallery professional. Her work has been featured in group exhibits at the Center for Photographic Art, the San Francisco Arts Commission, Photos De Femmes, the Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts, and the Seattle Erotic Arts Festival. As a museum collections registrar, Bradley has worked with the collections of renowned photographers including Andrew J. Russell, Dorothea Lange, Anne Brigman, and Joanne Leonard. She studied photography with Nigel Poor and Douglas Dertinger at Sacramento State University, and she holds a B.A. in Photography. She studied the wet-plate collodion process with France Scully Osterman in Rochester, New York, and with David Emitt Adams and Claire A. Warden in Benabbio, Italy. Bradley uses a mobile darkroom to bring collodion photography to the public via demonstrations and artist talks.

GM: What was your path to becoming a photographer?

BRB: I was introduced to photography by my father at the age of 8. Photography is a complex medium; it’s fraught with political, power, and class struggles, and has roots in racism and exclusionary practices, but also has the potential to be a democratizing medium. It’s used to express freedom and often the first medium we turn to when we want to either listen to or elevate the voices of marginalized communities and their stories. Since its invention, photography has been a present and powerful tool in major social movements, and the ability of images to elicit emotions and empathy is second to no other medium.

GM: Why do you use the 19th century Wet Plate Collodion process when developing your photographs?

BRB: Process and cameras are to a photographer what paint brushes and stroke techniques are to a painter. The tools you choose can either help or hinder your ability to communicate. Unlike a painter, photographers should consider the limitations and history of the equipment and processes they choose.

Brittany Rose Bradley, The Bond, 2019

Selecting a photographic process without considering the result and what that medium will do to contribute to or detract from those stories is negligent. Wet Plate Collodion has a history steeped in elitism, colonialism, and racism. It's also incredibly limiting, temperamental, and unpredictable. My decision to use collodion is intentional. The stories previously documented with collodion are half-truths at best, and in most cases, exploitative. Its more recent resurgence in popularity has been almost entirely nostalgic commercial portraiture, a service not far from its original applications. I am mindful of the power dynamics collodion perpetuates; I editorialize those histories, practices, and dynamics to create something "else. ” Few photographers using alternative photographic processes are choosing to address this history in their practice, and I deeply admire the work of those who are. I firmly believe that while the technique is important, making work that is intentional and purposeful far outweighs that of an image that is devoid of flaws. We've had 170 years plus of beautiful art images; it's time to see what else our medium is capable of.

GM: This process requires long exposure times of upwards of 5 minutes – how does this affect your practice?

BRB: Wet Plate is expensive, slow, and very specific in its restrictions, [but] these limitations serve my practice. The expense allows me to call attention to the value of the voices I'm collaborating with. The long exposure times and slow process provide me more time to collaborate and connect with my sitters. The minimal visible spectrum of UV light empowers me to discuss colorism and the racist history that drove all of photography's technological advances. The temperamental nature of the medium permits me to humble myself as a photographer and level the dynamics and inherent power disparity that usually exists between the subject and photographer. As a white photographer of mixed heritage and queer identity, this medium allows me to address all kinds of dynamics that concern myself and my privileges, gender, sex, gaze, and role in my own communities and the ones with whom I collaborate. If you think as an artist that your identity plays no role in the images you make or the stories you tell, you are lying to yourself. The world has romanticized the adage –"great artists steal" – for far too long. I want to see what happens when we give with intention, and collodion provides me the platform to explore that.

GM: Your photographic series, The Continuous Thread (2019), depicts members of the Native American community centered around the Pioneer Monument in San Francisco, specifically the empty plinth where the “Early Days” sculptural grouping stood before it was removed in September 2018. Could you discuss the origins of this project and why you decided to recast the Native American community in a contemporary light, while using this old-fashioned developing method?

BRB: The Continuous Thread was a community-wide collaboration to celebrate the removal of the “Early Day ’s” statue in San Francisco. My role was part of a community commentary, and my inclusion in the project was secondary to two other talented Indigenous photographers, Jean Melesaine and Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie. The project was organized and funded by the SFAC and curated by Carolyn Melenani Kuali’i. Early on in the project discussions, modern processes needed to be centered [in order] to elevate the modernity of the community and the efforts being made. (Continued) Brittany Rose Bradley, Strong Powerful Beautiful, 2018

Brittany Rose Bradley, "Artist, Creator, Here" from The Continuous Thread, 2019

Both Tsinhnahjinnie and Melesaine used digital format images in full color; it was extremely important to all of us involved that these images be the center of the movement, “Living people, Thriving Communities, Living Color. ” My role was twofold. The period from which the statue was represented overlapped with the use of collodion in the documentation of "relations" between white colonial America and Indigenous communities. Historical images from this period depicting Indigenous leaders and communities would seem harmless, unless you knew the medium well. A trained eye and photo historian would be able to tell you otherwise. What would seem like a subtle decision to have Indigenous leaders stand in an image and white generals sit might seem respectful to a layperson, I know for a fact that because of the process's slow nature, it merely ensured that the white participants would be clear and in focus, while the Indigenous leaders most likely would not be. There are dozens of instances like this in historical photos. We intended to document this modern victory by using the medium relevant to the statue's reference, but turn every historical cliche on its head. I spent the entire project laboring, collaborating, and talking about these issues with each group and community member, and asking them to help me address those troupes. The second effort that was most important to me, given the extremely exploitative relationship photographers have had with Indigenous communities, is that the original images belong to the community members. Copyright was shared, permissions were required for the use or purchase of originals, and ownership over each image belonged to the community members depicted. (Continued)

Far too often, Indigenous folx are photographed and never reap any benefit from the transaction. It was dire to me that the images using this medium would not depict nostalgic historical images from the past, but modern people in a contemporary moment of victory who had as much control and ownership of the image as I. The intention was to make an offering to the community and address my medium's history, while working to rewrite what it means to make portraits. My role was a communal gift and gesture in conjunction with the timeless work of Jean Melesaine and Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie.

GM: Could you name any contemporary or historical photographers that inspire your practice?

BRB: In no particular order of importance or influence, I'd say I am most impacted by Dustin Thierry, Wendy Red Star, Liam Woods, Tina Modotti, Carrie Mae Weems, Lola Álvarez Bravo, Chloe Aftel, Nan Goldin, Laura Aguilar, Sally Mann, Claude Cahun, Jeremey Grier, and Claire A. Warden. Each of these artists has challenged the old-guard view of portraiture. For the contemporaries listed, I so look forward to everything they make. I am particularly anxious to see a full show of Dustin Thierry's work in person. Theirry ’s work is a love poem to his community and his own identity. Our experiences are different, but the heart of what he’s striving to capture really resonates with me and my own work. He asks difficult questions of himself and the world at large, but always centers his Caribbean heritage in the complex identity and experiences of being Caribbean and living in Europe.

GM: What are you currently working on in your practice?

BRB: I've been accepted to the Cubberly Artist Studio Program for 2023 and am looking forward to finally having a home base! I have several projects that I'd like to sink my teeth into, but I'm most excited for an Ultra Large Format project of femme presenting folx who are behemoths in their career fields. I've been waiting for an opportunity to start that for some time, and I finally have some traction and sample images to pursue collaborations and possible funding. I just returned from a residency at Creekside Arts in Eureka, CA, and I'm excited to pursue some of the threads I pulled at during the month I was there, which was experimenting with all the ways collodion can be manipulated to make more than a 2D photograph.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. It took place in November 2022.