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India Flint
India Flint is an artist and writer whose works are represented in collections and museums in Germany, Latvia and Australia. She lives on a farm in rural South Australia, researching plant dyes, making artworks and planting trees.
*the ecoprint is an ecologically sustainable botanical contact print that transfers leaf dyes to cloth, clay, wood, stone or paper ; now widely adopted by makers in almost every country.
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Cyanotype photography is a camera-less technique that involves laying an object on paper coated with a solution of iron salts before exposing it to UV light and washing with water to create stunning white and Prussian blue images.
When ferric ammonium citrate or ferric ammonium oxalate is mixed with potassium ferricyanide, it becomes sensitive to UV light.
These chemicals can be painted onto paper or fabric and left to dry in a dark room. Once dry, objects can be arranged onto the paper and placed in the sun.
The UV rays from the sun react with the chemicals on the paper to create the recognisable cyan-blue background. Where the paper has been covered with an object it will remain white.
Once the chemicals are rinsed off with water, fixing the print so it is no longer sensitive to the sun, you are left with a beautiful print.
How to create your own cyanotype
1) Pick your specimens. Collect leaves or natural material from your garden or local green space, or find objects around your home.
2) Prepare your material. Some kits come with pre-treated paper, otherwise follow the instructions in your cyanotype printing kit.
3) Arrange your specimens. A piece of glass can be placed over your specimens for a sharper image.
4) Place in the sun. It can be a clear hot summer's day or a cloudy winter's day, there will still be UV rays that will help the chemical reaction. The amount of time it needs to be left in the sun, however, may vary depending on the time of the year. 30 minutes on a clear winter's day did the trick here.
5) Once developed enough, take your print inside and keep it out of the sunlight. You will notice that the print looks reversed.
6) It is now time to rinse your print with water. This will wash off any solution and fix the image so that it will no longer be affected by the sun.
7) Leave your print to dry. Once dry you will be left with your own beautiful cyanotype print.
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Anna Atkins: The first photo book
Anna Atkins produced what is known as the first photographic illustrated book, Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions, in 1843.
Atkins was a talented illustrator but wanted to find a more accurate way to depict the structure of a plant.
Her passion for botany along with the discovery of cyanotypes meant that over the span of 10 years she was able to create 3 volumes of work, representing a key step in the history of scientific illustration.
Cyanotype print of Cystoseira ericoides by Anna Atkins / Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Cyanotype print of Cystoseira foeniculacea by Anna Atkins / Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
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Sir John Herschel: The inventor of cyanotypes
Sir John Herschel began by experimenting with sun prints (or photograms). These were one of the earliest forms of photography and involved laying an object on chemically-treated paper before exposing it to a light source.
Later, in 1842, he used paper coated with a solution of iron salts, sun exposure and a water wash to create the very first cyanotype – a white image on a deep blue background.
This method proved to be easier, cheaper, and more durable than the previous silver-based method.
It may not look like the type of photography that we are used to, but Herschel was able to use cyanotype printing to make copies of his notes and diagrams.
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Bryan Nash Gill
What is the soul of a tree? The question is subjective, the answer in the eye of the beholder. From the tree’s perspective, it might be the sum of the seasons of its life. The droughts suffered, the sunshine savored. But the tree cannot bear witness to its own greatness. It cannot see its own deep roots, or the influence of its own spreading branches. It is up to the observer to give meaning to the tree’s existence.
Like a tree, Bryan Nash Gill was an artist defined by the sum of his seasons. From his upbringing, through his efforts to define himself as an artist, to his life as a husband, father, friend, he could not bear witness to his own greatness. He could not see how deep his roots went, or comprehend his own spreading influence. It is up to us, the observers, to find meaning in Bryan’s life, through his art, and through our shared experiences with him.
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Clodagh Emoe Biography
Central to my art practice is a concern with the encounter as a condition of art and how it manifests through perception. My most recent works are best described as events as they are predicated on a gathering and call people together to specific locations at specific times, for example, a forest at midnight, a flat due for demolition in Dublin’s city centre at dusk and the National Gallery of Ireland during closing hours. These events engage with the condition of art as an encounter by exploring how thinking may be ‘felt’.
Recent commissioned works include: Psychic Sleep and Collective Thought (2012/13) as part of the Maybe Education programme at dOCUMENTA XIII, Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane and at Catalyst Arts, Belfast; Metaphysical Longings, an on-going exploration of thought using forms of guided visualization known as psychic sleep; The Closing of Mystical Anarchism, Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, Dublin (2012); Parodos, Irish Museum of Modern Art (2012); The Unveiling, (2010), a site-specific work parodying the failed unveiling of a monumental sculpture for Dublin City Council and Cult of Engagement, Project Arts Centre, Dublin (2009) commissioned by Project Arts Centre.
Artworks are included in the permanent collection of the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Limerick City Gallery of Art, The University of the Arts, London and the private collections of Anthony Reynolds and Kilfane Sculpture Garden. Projects have been supported by the Arts Council of Ireland, Culture Ireland, European Cultural Union, South Dublin County Council, Dublin City Council, PRTLI (IR) and ARHB, (UK). I have also been awarded residencies at Banff, Canada, The Tyrone Guthrie Centre, Virginia, US, IMMA, Sím, Reykjavik and the National Art Studios, The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea.
I hold a BA in Fine Art from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, a MA in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Art and Design, London, and a PhD titled Exploring the Philosophical Character of Contemporary Art through a Post-Conceptual Practice from GradCAM/DIT.
Fig1. Clodagh Emoe 'Reflections on a Radical Plot', 2022, 10 x companion prints, ecological prints produced by the plants natural dye transferred onto cotton paper, each print 24 x 16 cm
Fig2. Clodagh Emoe 'Reflections on a Radical Plot', 2022, still from film showing archive of prints on wall and detail of Primrose companion print, 16 x 24 cm
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