Inside Rachel Portesi’s Vermont-based studio, the tools of a modern-day alchemist are scattered across every surface: dozens of vintage film cameras, a camera that looks like an accordion on a 5-foot stand and a massive handwoven basket in the shape of a casket, full of moss, leaves and fungi. This evocative collection forms the backbone of Portesi’s latest solo exhibition, The Nature of Things, which opens at Greenfield Community College’s South Gallery on Monday, Jan. 26.
By blending 19th-century tintype techniques with artificial intelligence and time-lapse video, Portesi invites viewers to step into a world where mushrooms serve as both material and metaphor for the sacred interconnectedness of life and death.
“The mushrooms became this perfect symbol of the cyclical nature of life and regeneration. [Mushrooms] literally turn waste and nature into food,” she said.
Portesi began taking photographs of mushrooms during the COVID-19 pandemic. It wasn’t until more recently that she noticed a strong connection to the natural world when she was in the woods that “The Nature of Things” began to materialize.
“Being in nature and walking in the woods is something I’ve recently discovered that has this sense of connectivity and peace. It’s not something I was looking for,” said Portesi. “I was just walking in the woods, and it reminded me of the feelings in nature I had as a child, where things were really alive and connected.”
Portesi observed a nearly religious quality to her feelings while in nature.
“[In nature] I feel small, I feel connected. I feel important, unimportant, just part of the greater universe. I didn’t feel so much as an individual. I felt just as much part of the tree as the moss, and you know, the greater world. And with this came a kind of peace, a clarity and honesty for self-reflection,” she said. “I’m now convinced when people talk about the feeling of God that this is it and it’s accessible to anybody.”
She added that her attraction to photographing fungi and connection to the woods were intertwined, and formed a great foundation for a project.
“I didn’t find the ‘meat’ in it until I realized that the mycelial networks underneath my feet as I’m walking in the woods, feeling connected, is an exact mirror of me, of how I feel,” said Portesi. “I feel fully connected, but above ground.”
Mortality is another theme present in the exhibit most evidently in the woven casket-shaped basket. The theme of mortality is a thread that runs throughout Portesi’s work. She often uses the concept as a motivating tool to live life to the fullest.
In 1995, when Portesi was in her mid-20s, her 19-year-old cousin Scott drowned while attempting to save a friend. This event had a profound impact on her as it was the first time someone she was close to passed away.
“I think I had some things holding me back in life. I was going to Marlboro College, I hadn’t finished writing my thesis, and somehow my cousin’s death made me realize, ‘If you want to do something, you better do it,’” Portesi said. “I think in many ways the tragedy of my cousin’s death, which left me unable to speak for a time and was shocking, led me to make changes to my life and my perspective on life.”
‘Intuitive process instead of a measured one’
“The Nature of Things” spans the technological gamut, as Portesi pairs 19th-century tintypes and modern video displays of edited timelapses. She also utilizes artificial intelligence to animate the fungi in her photos, bringing the mushrooms to life alongside physical installations like the oversized woven casket-shaped basket.
To create her photographs, Portesi uses an early photographic process for grayscale images called wet-plate collodion process. With this method, which originates from the 1800s, Portesi hand-coats metal plates with silver emulsion before loading it into the back of her camera and opening the lens. After taking an exposure between 10 and 30 seconds, the silver emulsion wears off in certain spots to variable degrees according to the intensity of the light, resulting in an image.
Tintypes are not a forgiving medium, Portesi said. The plates have to be immediately developed after being exposed and leave little room for error, she said.
The process appealed to her, not only for aesthetic reasons, but also because wet-plate photography “ends up becoming a nearly intuitive process instead of a measured one,” she said.
Portesi also enjoys immediate, analog forms of photography. In the 90s, she spent time exploring street photography in cities using a Polaroid camera.
“[Street photography] was fun. And so after raising kids, I started making artwork again and I didn’t know what to do,” she said. “But I was drawn to the thing that just gave me the instantaneous aspect, and it’s one of a kind. There’s also a bit of mystery. I don’t know how it’s going to come out. I don’t have a ton of control.”
Pushing herself into other realms
Portesi was initially contacted by GCC photography professor Joan O’Beirne. Since GCC is a relatively small school, the gallery invites artists directly for exhibitions instead of accepting submissions, according to O’Beirne.
“We don’t have that kind of luxury [at GCC] to go through a million applications … so we do it in the Art Department,” said O’Beirne. “We have weekly meetings and a few times a year, someone will come up with an artist [to contact], and often they are local.”
Portesi said she was already familiar with O’Beirne through the photo community and O’Beirne’s own exhibits.
“I’m a great admirer of [O’Beirne’s] work, and also, GCC is a famously good community college for people around here,” Portesi said. “I recommended my photo assistant to attend GCC and she did. Joan does a great job with the photography department.”
When it was time for GCC’s Art Department to decide whose work to showcase for the start of the spring semester, O’Beirne thought of Portesi because of her work with old photographic processes.
“I’ve always known her work. She works not only in analog photography, but in old processes. I teach the history of photography and we talk about the wet collodion process,” O’Beirne said. “And I’ve always been fascinated with anyone who, instead of looking for perfection in the photographic image, they’re fine with bubbles happening, and when they pour the emulsion onto the glass, it’s okay if it ripples.”
To O’Beirne, the tintypes Portesi creates have a unique aesthetic quality and provide a great opportunity for teaching. The South Gallery at GCC is considered a teaching gallery, which hosts artwork for students to discuss and analyze, according to O’Beirne.
“The images refer to the past, but yet they’re very present, the subject matter is very present. So there is something haunting about the work, but also joyful at the same time,” O’Beirne said. “So, I thought the work was beautiful but also educational. There’s a lot to talk about within [The Nature of Things].”
O’Beirne was already a fan of Portesi’s analog photography, namely a previous collection titled, “Hair Portraits,” from 2020. But O’Beirne was further impressed by Portesi pushing herself with video displays in “The Nature of Things.”
“I was so thrilled when I saw [Portesi] pushing herself into video. I just love how she pushes herself into other realms. She doesn’t stop just at what she knows. I’m a big fan of that.” O’Beirne said. “She’s not afraid. That’s a really impressive feature of any artist or writer or anyone. Taking risks and possibly failing and doing something that people might think is dumb or something like that. It takes courage.”
Portesi’s exhibit will be available for viewing in the South Gallery from Jan. 26 to Feb. 27. The South Gallery is open and free to the public. She will deliver an artist’s talk at the gallery on Wednesday, Jan. 28 at noon.
The South Gallery is open 7 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m.-5 p.m. on Fridays, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. on Saturday, and closed on Sundays. The gallery is fully accessible.
For more information on Portesi’s work, visit rachelportesiphotography.com.
