Creating Cyanotypes

In collaboration with Fusion Arts and photographer John Blythe

cyanotype0

Children at St Swithun's Primary School recently got the chance to try out the cyanotype techniques of pioneering British photographer and botanist, Anna Atkins.

Anna Atkins was the subject of a recent event held by the Humanities Cultural Programme and Photo Oxford as part of the Being Human Festival. Her work involved creating botanically accurate and aesthetically pleasing images of plants, mostly algae, using the cyanotype method to create direct imprints.

Dr Victoria McGuinness led 120 children to create their own images inspired by Atkins, pictured below.

These workshops were part of our knowledge exchange activities for the Being Human Festival 2020, a national festival of the humanities which continues this week. TORCH will be holding two more events as part of Being Human: 'Under The Lens' this Friday at 5pm and 'INDOORS: Experiences of older people during lockdown', an online exhibition available now.

Three photos: two of cyanotypes (white plant shapes on blue background) and in the middle, one of a young girl holding a picture and smiling.