Lucas Leffler - Silver Creek

In the 1920s a Belgian factory accidentally disposed of tons of silver as a by-product of producing photographic film. This ended up in a nearby creek, colouring the mud black. In 1927 a tool maker realised the kind of fortune being washed away daily, and invented a system to recover the sludge from the creek and extract the silver. The story, perhaps a myth, fascinated Lucas Leffler. 'Silver Creek' is the result of his research project. He scoured archives, newspaper clippings, and other documents, and photographed the factory and the creek. He also took samples from the creek, trying to find traces of silver, and even turned the sludge into artworks using a screen-printing technique.