In this conversation, Immaterial Voices host Brian O’Neill, sits down with photographer and artist Ciel Baptiste. Based in Illinois, Ciel has been exploring and experimenting with film photography, especially black and white, as a means to connect with the landscape and region.
In this conversation, O’Neill and Baptiste talk about inspirations in the history of art, as well as from the Farm Security Administration photographers, press photography (e.g., Jack Bradley), the history of documentary photography in Illinois, inspirations in cinema, garage sales, Instagram, and more. Throughout, Baptiste discusses the importance of experimentation and exploration in photography in the creation of projects. The most recent project of Baptiste’s work that has been published by Immaterial Books is En Plein Air.
While many photographers busy themselves in the studio, Baptiste is drawn to the airy landscapes of central Illinois. Charmed by waterlogged fields, termite-ridden barns, and the symmetry of phone lines and cornfields, Baptiste’s workis a collection of rural vistas and landmarks, moments frozen in time. For them, these images allude to distant memories of a once-bustling hub of agriculture, left to decay as the country aged. And yet, it remains a place of new questions and possibilities.
Notes:
Blurred Horizons Exhibit - https://www.immaterialbooks.com/fields-of-vision-2025
Jack Bradley photography archive - https://collections.carli.illinois.edu/digital/collection/bra_jack/id/1714/
Ciel Baptiste - https://www.cielbaptiste.com
Ciel Baptiste - @crrrrl
En Plein Air - https://www.immaterialbooks.com/store/p/en-plein-air
Champaign Urbana Small Press Fest - https://illinoislibraries.wixsite.com/smallpressfestcu
Analog Gallery - https://analogwines.square.site
Brian O’Neill - https://www.brianfoneill.net
Immaterial Books - https://www.immaterialbooks.com
Wyoming Toad - https://wyomingtoad.bandcamp.com/album/light-rail
