Made with Salt

Made with Salt (or Salt Memories) draws on previous works by Salzmann documenting salt residue in Avalon, Philadelphia and the salt ponds in Maras, Peru.

With “Made with Salt,” Salzmann continues his long exploration of salt as both material and metaphor. In the earliest days of photography, salt was essential: salt crystals made it possible to capture light and preserve images on paper. Long before that, salt itself was a source of power and wealth — valued as currency, traded across continents, and used to pay taxes to rulers. Salzmann’s own ancestors collected such taxes for the Tsar, often paid in salt. From this history comes the family name Salzmann — literally, “man of salt.”

—Laurence Salzmann