WILD EMULSION
Film Soup and Mordançage
with Ella Morton, May 16, 2026
Film soup and colour mordançage offer exciting possibilities when combined, producing psychedelic photographs rich with texture and unpredictable surface effects. This intensive one-day workshop blends discussion, hands-on shooting, and darkroom experimentation to create striking photographic images within a single day.
The morning begins with an introduction to film soup techniques and looking at selected work. Each participant will choose two sheets of large format colour film from a range of pre-soaked film soup options. The group will then head out with large format cameras to explore the surrounding area and expose the prepared film. After lunch, the colour film will be developed using C-41 chemistry with a bleach bypass process, retaining silver in the emulsion so it can react fully with the mordançage chemistry. The final stage involves immersing the film in mordançage chemistry and observing as the emulsion lifts into bubbles and veils. Once rinsed and dried, the emulsion reattaches to the celluloid, allowing the negative to be scanned or printed. Participants will leave with two fully realised film soup and colour mordançage negatives.
Recommended for: Artists or photographers with basic analogue photography and darkroom experience.
Group size: Max 8 participants.
Program fee: 40.000 ISK
Tuition fee includes: Access to materials, cameras, tripods and darkroom equipment. Lunch is also included in the program fee.
Price does not include accommodation, however rooms have been pre-reserved for out-of-town participants at Hafaldan hostel at a discounted rate.
Ella Morton is a visual artist and filmmaker living in Toronto. Her expedition-based practice has brought her to residencies and projects across the Americas, Greenland, Nordic Europe, Australia and Antarctica. She uses experimental analogue processes to capture the sublime and fragile qualities of remote landscapes. She earned a BFA from Parsons School of Design (New York) and an MFA from York University (Toronto). Her photography work and short films have been exhibited widely and screened internationally.