Project Gallery
Cyanotype is one of the earliest photographic processes. Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions created by Anna Atkins in 1843 is considered to be the first book published with photographic images.
My series ‘Shadow Structures’ follows the tradition of using plant materials to create cyanotype images. I found several portfolios of 1870’s architectural engravings in France. I painted these prints with cyanotype emulsion which turns blue when exposed to sunlight. This is the same chemistry used to make architectural blueprints. I placed plants from my garden in France onto these prints and exposed them to sunlight. This process imprinted shadows of the plants’ structures on top of the engraved building structures. Hence the title of the series ‘Shadow Structures’.
Other cyanotype works featured in this portfolio are from a series called ‘Man Ray’s Buffet’. They are made using a photogram process that Man Ray made famous but also feature french country kitchen objects, a favourite subject matter of the Dadaists.
(All works are on Le Monitor Architectes antique paper circa 1870’s except for Man Ray’s Buffet 1)