“I am the subject and the maker”: Marie Smith on documenting the Black non-binary body in nature

From what initially started as a documentation of their routine lockdown walks round the corner from where they grew up in South London, Marie Smith’s photo series The Wanderer has expanded into “something more performance based and explorative”, they tell It’s Nice That. Like many of us who were cooped up inside in the pandemic, strolling around the same limited locations, Marie was forced to think about their relationship with nature anew, leading to some fresh adventures for image making.

Since its beginnings in Brockwell park, the photo project has travelled to a few locations outside of London, including The New Forest and Velez Blanco in Spain. Stepping into the character of ‘the Wanderer’ – a persona the photographer created as a response to their research around nature, belonging, climate change, and identity, Marie has been documenting their roaming outdoors with a film camera, tripod and air release to capture their experiences of landscapes, both familiar and unknown.

“Creating this character has allowed me to have a distanced perspective on the work and provide me space to explore societal structures and larger issues rather than relying on the personal to drive the project’s concept”, they explain. Within the freedom and flexibility of inhabiting someone or something else, Marie has subsequently uncovered a performative element in their visual practice – a discovery charted in the trajectory of the series where the presence of the Wanderer has become more and more dynamic as the image making has progressed.

“I can see how the Wanderer has shifted as a character and I hope this can be relatable to those who have a particular interest in the experience of the Black non-binary body, its presence in, and how it navigates nature. Our natural world has been constructed and overlaid effectively by hundreds of years of manipulation in the pursuit of development by those in the Global North. As someone who has grown up and resides in Europe I think the Wanderer provides a particular experience that speaks to that.”

Another aspect to the performative nature of the project, for Marie, has been in the physicality of working with analogue film. They share: “I am the subject and the maker, and then I become part of the audience when viewing the work.” Engaged in multiple roles, the artist’s medium of black and white film, with the occasional work in colour is a conscious decision to be “involved in every stage of making the work” they say. “As a neurodiverse person I struggle to follow steps, so the slowness of film helps me feel centred and for my body and mind to be in unison [...] there is also something satisfying that comes from having a physical item at the end of the process – a print of an image that came from my imagination.”

To step further into the landscapes of their image making, the artist has developed the black and white photographs using plant or coffee-based developers such as sweet corn husks, caffenol, rosemary and thyme. Marie says: “I hope that people can see the nuances in the series comes from using plant and non toxic developers, and being rooted in these different locations.” As well as incorporating the physicality of the scenes into their image making, Marie felt that it was important for viewers that are temporarily inhabiting the Wander’s landscapes to know exactly how these images were constructed, so photographs often include the wire of the air release or sometimes even the tripod itself – a reminder of the cameras presence as an object, placed amongst these remote terrains.

Although the timeline of the project has not necessarily been linear, Marie has been wandering and photographing since 2021 and hopes to bring the series to a close with a printed photo book next year. They are also hoping to conclude the work with an exhibit. The Wanderer has been “a slow and thoughtful process for me” they conclude. “I did not feel the need to rush the work and moved with the seasons. That slowness has helped me to process what I want to do and where I see the work progressing. I feel like I am coming to the end of making this series which will provide me with more space to pursue whatever comes next.”