Alchemy of the Unknowns

Collaboration with James David Tabor

Our experimental, concept-centered project is about collaboration between strangers in a very divided country, rootedness in the tangibility of the physical world, and thriving despite uncertainty.

Lisa lives in Massachusetts, and James lives in Arizona. We were strangers within a worldwide community of analog, toy camera afficionados. With very different upbringing and geopolitical environments, we find common ground in our analog photography and aspirations for a Daoist way to live. In the spring of 2023, we began our project in “film swaps,” the practice of having one photographer first expose images on an entire roll of photographic film and mail it to another, who would then photograph the same film again from the beginning. We don’t tell each other what we have photographed, bringing serendipity as an ingredient into our process.

In a world that feels increasingly rudderless, one may easily succumb to cynicism in the erosion of trust. “Alchemy of the Unknowns” is an attempt to hold on to earnestness and tangibility—two facets of humanity as we know it.

––Lisa Tang Liu, Massachusetts and James David Tabor, Arizona

Photo book available here.

Project Instagram page.