Cyanotype is one of the oldest photographic processes, it was invented in England in 1841 by Sir John Herschel (mathematician, chemist, inventor and experimental photographer). Its name references the Greek “cyan,” meaning “dark-blue impression”. This non-silver photographic process it is also known as blueprint, a distinctive feature which results from its exposure to ultraviolet light.
Nature has been the inspiration for many forms of art throughout history. In fact, it inspired the very first book with photographs created using only cyanotypes. Anna Atkins, its creator, self-published a detailed and meticulous series of botanical images using the cyanotype photographic process in her 1843 book, “Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions”. Women like Anna were restricted from professionally practising science for most of the 19th century. Botany, however, was a subject that was accessible to all. Not only did Anna's cyanotype impressions provide enough detail to distinguish one species from the next, they were also imaginative compositions, showing her artistic side.
The process to create a cyanotype involves coating a cotton base surface like paper or fabric, with a UV light sensitive combination of ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide. Once the surface is dry, either a photographic negative (which produces a photograph) or light-blocking objects (which produces a photogram) are laid on top. This is exposed to UV light and then washed in water to develop the image. The areas that were exposed to the sunlight will be a deep blue colour. The areas where the sunlight was blocked by the object or dark spaces of the negative, will remain the original colour of the surface.
I have chosen cyanotype as my art practice because it combines things I love: nature, photography and care for the environment. I aim to praise nature and its shapes through a process that generates a very low negative impact to nature. You will find the materials I use to be from a natural and organic source – from the paper I use and biodegradable packaging to the iron salts washed away after doing a cyanotype which have iron as their main component: the most abundant metal on earth. Cyanotype is a great choice for producing images related to the environment, it is the least toxic of all of the chemistries usually involved in darkroom/photographic processes.
Please visit www.karenavilez.com to see my work and feel free to contact me if you want to know more about cyanotype.
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