BioCyan: Sea Original by Martha Gray

Bioplastic cyanotype, print of water
 
The artwork I have created for the Petri Dish exhibition is an extension of my BioCyan series, which is the current research project within my practice. BioCyan is the physical intervention of photography by redefining what the physical possibility of the printed image can be. The irregularity of the perfect imperfection in shape, texture, and size of my bioplastic cyanotypes with my sand and sea images create, with a sense of symbiosis, a photographic object that is a depiction of its process. BioCyan is researching bioplastic’s, combined with cyanotype, inspired by the early history of alternative photography. Using algae-based bioplastics in homage to Anna Atkins, and her seminal work ‘Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions’. BioCyan is a critique of the canon of the history of photography, and alternative process photography’s place within it. Starting in a kitchen and ending in a bedroom during the isolation of the pandemic, my unique bioplastic cyanotype process and resulting BioCyan series is a reflection of my personal journey through my artistic hand.