PHOTOGRAPHS OF BRITISH ALGAE: CYANOTYPE IMPERFECTIONS
“In 2012, I found a piece of material in a rock pool that changed my life. Mistaking this moving piece of cloth for seaweed, started the recovery of synthetic clothing from around the coastline of Britain for the next ten years”.
Two hundred and two ‘specimens’ of clothing and garments recovered from one hundred and twenty-one beaches mimic different species of marine algae, with the intention to raise awareness about the over consumption of synthetic plastic clothing also referred to as ‘fast fashion’, which is currently having the greatest impact on global climate change.
After seeing an original copy of the book, ‘Photographs of British Algae, Volume 1’ by Anna Atkins, at The Royal Society in London, Barker was captivated by its detail and significance, and for the way it changed how we looked at science in 1800’s, but more importantly for the possibility to re-create similar work that could engage how we look at science in connection with a present-day critical issue.
In this new presentation titled ‘Cyanotype Imperfections’ instead of the Atkins ‘Cyanotype Impressions’, the book includes 203 cyanotype image pages and 8 cyanotype text pages using original 1800’s J Whatman paper that Atkins used from the original Turkey Mill in Kent.
A dedicated portfolio for this project has been created on the website below to show in more detail the ideas, thought process and further images, that have come together over the past ten years, to ultimately create this book.
A - B (Atkins - Barker) 1843 – 2023.
