This is an excerpt of Kuranda Arts Coop member Mollie Bosworth edited by Klaus Brucksch.
In Anna’s Garden : Australian practitioners celebrating World Cyanotype Day 2018
This exhibition aims to provide a glimpse into the rich community in Australia that exists around the cyanotype process. In Anna’s Garden provides an opportunity for cyanotypists to come together and share their work, and to educate the broader community about this historical process that has captured the blue hearts of contemporary artists.
This exhibition has been developed by artists Doug Spowart and Victoria Cooper with support from the Monash Gallery of Art (MGA) and was on display in THE ATRIUM: Community Exhibition Space at Monash Gallery of Art from 11 September – 21 October 2018.
About the cyanotype process & World Cyanotype Day
Invented by British polymath Sir John Herschel in 1842, the cyanotype process contributed to two major moments in photography, the publication of the first photographically illustrated book (in essence, the first photobook) Anna At- kins’s British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions (1843-1853) and also its commercial application as a quick and simple cop- ying process, the blueprint, which was in common usage for much of the 20th century. Since the 1960s artists around the world have been exploring the cyanotype as part of renewed interest in alternative photographic processes.
World Cyanotype Day has been acknowledged since 2015 as an annual celebration of the cyanotype process. The 2018 event falls on 29 September and sees “photographers and artists worldwide gathering in backyards, parking lots, galleries and parks to connect, create and celebrate this antiquarian photographic process.”
To connect with the worldwide cyanotype community ‘click’ the link World Cyanotype Day WEBSITE OR the Facebook Page that are administered by Db Dennis Waltrip.
To link with the Australian community of practice request to join ‘click’ the link The Cyanotype in Australia Facebook Page.
This page was instigated by the In Anna’s Garden team.
Mollie BOSWORTH
Pteridomania 2016
Artists’ book: cyanotype on handmade cotton
rag paper.
Artist’s statement:
I become interested in the process of cyano- type, as it has an innate connection with flora through its history. My mother was an avid researcher and collector of many plants includ- ing ferns and when I recently came across her pressed fern collection, I decided to honour her collection with a book of handmade prints. Each print on the 36 pages and endplates has been individually considered, printed and toned.
Technical details:
Some cyanotypes have been toned with tea, coffee and bleached.
Biography:
Mollie Bosworth has been a visual artist for over 30 years but has only been working with cyanotype for the past 5 years. She is self taught in the medium and likes to experiment with photograms using rainforest inspiration. Her work in porcelain is widely known and she has a current solo exhibition working in both medi- ums ‘The Nature of Blue’ Cairns Art Gallery.
Mollie BOSWORTH
Floating 2018
Cyanotype on watercolour paper
Artist’s statement:
Ever since I started my cyanotype journey, a
lot of my work has been about my surrounding natural environment and the development of images through photograms. I have been exper- imenting with different papers and techniques including wet cyanotype, exposed with wet paper over a lengthy time. ‘Floating’ is a wet cyanotype on handmade Indian paper.
Mollie BOSWORTH
Spring Growth 2018 Cyanotype on watercolour paper