Work in Progress 2026
Chuckanut: Spring Set explores nature’s impact on the lived experience of place attachment felt by those who have moved away from home. Place attachment is believed to be the cognitive emotional bond to place that informs an immigrant’s sense of identity and can have a bearing on such diverse issues as rootedness, belonging, and displacement. This project builds upon Elizabeth's series The Woods where she explored places of attachment within her home country, England. However, for Chucakanut she investigates places that she has built an attachment to in her new place of residence, America. She documents specific sites that have helped her build her identity as an immigrant and have helped her locate herself through the connection to the natural landscape. These images are made using the cyanotype toning process. Elizabeth uses plants directly from these sites to tone the images, specifically rhododendron leaves. Similar to The Woods this series will also be broken up into four seasons documenting this personally significant location over the period of a year. The Spring set was created in Spring of 2026. This body of work questions the meaning of belonging and its negotiation between memory and displacement. It offers up a discussion on place attachment and if it is possible for an immigrant to cultivate a connection to a place that they were not born in. It also acknowledges the rich and nuanced histories that shape the American landscape by questioning what it means to build attachment to lands that are shaped by indigenous cultures.
Chuckanut: Spring Set explores nature’s impact on the lived experience of place attachment felt by those who have moved away from home. Place attachment is believed to be the cognitive emotional bond to place that informs an immigrant’s sense of identity and can have a bearing on such diverse issues as rootedness, belonging, and displacement. This project builds upon Elizabeth's series The Woods where she explored places of attachment within her home country, England. However, for Chucakanut she investigates places that she has built an attachment to in her new place of residence, America. She documents specific sites that have helped her build her identity as an immigrant and have helped her locate herself through the connection to the natural landscape. These images are made using the cyanotype toning process. Elizabeth uses plants directly from these sites to tone the images, specifically rhododendron leaves. Similar to The Woods this series will also be broken up into four seasons documenting this personally significant location over the period of a year. The Spring set was created in Spring of 2026. This body of work questions the meaning of belonging and its negotiation between memory and displacement. It offers up a discussion on place attachment and if it is possible for an immigrant to cultivate a connection to a place that they were not born in. It also acknowledges the rich and nuanced histories that shape the American landscape by questioning what it means to build attachment to lands that are shaped by indigenous cultures.