‘Bishops Wood’ is a large scale cyanotype made of up to 12 A4 panels. The wood at Magus Muir near St Andrews was the site of the murder of Archbishop Sharp in 1675, during the Scottish reformation. The murderers were executed in Edinburgh; the head and two hands from three of them are buried in the graveyard of Cupar Old and St Michael of Tarvit. The wood is supposedly haunted.
Unlike the majority of photographic printing processes, the chemicals used in creating cyanotype images are not toxic and therefore eco-friendly. Cyanotypes have always been associated with images of flora from some of the earliest examples such as the work of Anna Atkins, whose book Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions is the first to be illustrated entirely with photographs.
‘Developed by her friend and neighbor Sir John Herschel, the cyanotype process produced blue-and-white prints that Atkins prized for their sharp contours and striking colors. Atkins added hundreds of new plates to Photographs of British Algae throughout the 1840s and early 1850s, all the while refining cyanotype chemical solutions and exposure times.’ Annemarie Iker
‘Still Life’ runs at the Leicester Contemporary, 16 Market Street, Leicester, LE1 6DP until the 27th of November. (Tues- Sat, 11am – 6pm). We will be in Leicester again from the 18 – 20th and looking forward to speaking to friends and visitors who are coming to see the show. Many thanks to @leicestercontemporary @florencetrust @leicestercitycouncil The Company of Artists cic and @designseasonleicester and of course special thanks again to Steve and Yuka.
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