The images reproduced in Flamingo, the second monograph by artist Chloe Sells, are adapted from photographs taken in the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans in Botswana, one of the largest breeding grounds for flamingos in the Southern Hemisphere.

‘There is a place on earth that looks like white paint has spilled from the heavens and splashed across its surface. There is no arboreal green. There is no azure water. There is no earthy, brown soil. This albino birthmark is the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans in the heart of the Kalahari Desert of Botswana. 

The word Makgadikgadi means, ‘the place of the dry, dry’. In spite of this, the area was not always desert. It was once an ancient lake, thought to be one of the largest on earth. Thousands of years ago the waters that fed this lake shifted and it became a series of smaller lakes, eventually evaporating altogether leaving salt flats stretching to the horizon.’ Chloe Sells

The photographs are created using an analogue large format camera and later printed in a traditional darkroom. The darkroom process is spontaneous and consuming, layering light, texture and form to interact with photographic alchemy. Some of the images are drawn on after they have been printed with paint and marker. Because of Sells’ method of working, each outcome is unique.

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Born in Aspen, Colorado, Chloe Sells graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2000 with a Bachelors degree in Fine Art, and gained her Masters in Fine Art from Central St. Martins in 2011. She currently lives and works between London and Maun, Botswana. Her work has been the subject of numerous international solo exhibitions and her first monograph ‘Swamp’ was shortlisted for the Arles book award in 2016.

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