Discover and reveal the hidden life of soil through this hands-on and sustainable image-making workshop delivered by Hannah Fletcher, founder of the Sustainable Darkroom.
What to Expect
Using a technique called soil chromatography, you’ll create beautiful, abstract images that reveal the inner composition and vitality of soil. Working with samples gathered from around OmVed Gardens, we’ll learn to "listen to the soil" (following OmVed Gardens 2026 theme) and explore how different soils express themselves through colour, texture, and pattern.
This process blends elements of science, ecology, and analogue photography. Using light-sensitive silver nitrate, each print acts like a kind of “portrait” of the soil, offering a unique way to observe and reflect on the ecosystems beneath our feet.
Slow and meditative, the workshop invites you to connect more deeply with the living world, and to consider soil not just as ground, but as a complex and active community.
Capacity for this workshop is limited to 12 participants and no prior experience is needed.
What You’ll Learn
- How soil chromatography works as a simple, visual method for exploring soil health
- How to prepare and work with soil samples to create chromatic prints
- Ways to observe and interpret patterns, colours, and forms within each image
- How analogue photographic processes can reveal ecological relationships
- Approaches to slowing down and connecting more attentively with the living systems beneath our feet.
Who Can Take Part?
Open to anyone aged 16 and over, whether you’re an artist, gardener, photographer, or simply curious about soil, image-making and ecology.
No prior experience is needed. Just bring curiosity and a willingness to experiment and observe.
About the Host
Image Copyright Josefina Astorga
Hannah Fletcher is a UK-based visual artist who works mainly with analogue photography. Her practice explores new ways of using photographic materials and processes, often focusing on more sustainable approaches that challenge consumer-driven methods. She is the founder of The Sustainable Darkroom (TSD), a charity and online community researching and sharing less toxic photographic techniques. She also co-directs the London Alternative Photography Collective, which promotes collaboration over individual practice.
In line with OmVed Gardens’ 2026 theme, Listening as Care, her practice stays open to learning from both human and nonhuman communities. She uses DIY, low-impact, and low-waste methods, often pushing the boundaries of photography to explore the relationships between materials, making, and the wider environment.
https://www.hannahfletcher.com/ @hfletch https://sustainabledarkroom.com @sustainabledarkroom
About OmVed Gardens:
OmVed Gardens is a garden, exhibition, events, and learning space in North London dedicated to exploring the connections between food, ecology and creativity for health and climate resilience. We are on a mission to inspire ecological awareness and action, and deepen our understanding of interconnectedness with the natural world.
As a registered Community Interest Company, all our activities prioritise social and ecological objectives. Whether collaborating with chefs, creatives, gardeners, or schools, OmVed Gardens is a hub for education, connection, and action. We aim to inspire individuals and communities to reimagine their role in building a healthier, more resilient world.
We work to increase biodiversity - of species, seeds, food systems, and participation, through regenerative gardening, seed saving, habitat creation, and ecological education. Our space serves as a living example of how urban areas can be transformed into thriving ecosystems that support both human and non-human communities.
Sign up for our monthly newsletter for tips from the garden and kitchen and hear about our upcoming activities:
www.omvedgardens.com · @omvedgardens
Subsidised Tickets:
We have a few reserved tickets at a subsidised rate. If this workshop is not monetarily accessible, please write to us at events@omvedgardens.com to avail yourself of a subsidised ticket rate. Subject to availability.
Refund Policy
Tickets are non-refundable, except in cases where an event is sold out and a waiting list exists for the session. Refund requests can be made up to 10 days prior to the session. Please write to us for any refund inquiries.
