Arwen Flowers | Artist
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Van Dyke Brown Photography

16/2/2016

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‘People expect photography to be honest, accurate and reproducible...Of course none of these are true. Photography is infinitely mutable, and always was.’
Quote: Dr. Stephen Greenberg
Source: https://nihrecord.nih.gov/newsletters/2013/07_19_2013/story3.htm

I have been thinking a lot about how to incorporate images into my work beyond drawing or painting.
Photography is one of the common methods used to record the world around us so I’ve been thinking it would be an ideal medium to express ideas about cataloguing and collecting.

I am curious about the results of recording a specimen or location with a collector/researchers approach and then working with the resulting images from an artists perspective.

When I studied photography at Elam I didn’t really move beyond the darkroom. I think it was the magic of the photographic process more than the taking of images that appealed to me at the time. This exploration is different, the importance of the
initial images are an integral part of the work I
am making.

While researching the Van Dyke Brown printing process I came across Anna Atkins (1799-1871).
Her story is curiously connected to my current
​work, in that she was a woman, botanist and photographer. She was often considered the first person to have published a book illustrated with photographic images and some sources claim that she was the first woman to create a photograph.

Anna Atkins learned directly from William Henry Fox Talbot (a friend of both her father and her husband) about two of his inventions related to photography: the ‘photogenic drawing’ technique (in which an object is placed on light-sensitized paper which is exposed to the sun to produce an image) and calotypes.
​
I have been experimenting with the Van Dyke Brown process because I am drawn to it’s hand-made, one-off qualities, the old world charm of the colour and the seemingly magical chemical process which I can manipulate creatively to produce different types of images, like photograms and contact photographs.
​
I’m hoping to take the images I produce and add other media and text, building layers of interpretation into the final pieces.
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Cyanotype by Anna Atkins (cc.1840-50's)
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​A first Van Dyke Brown transparency contact print to see if my chemicals were working on the paper
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My first paper negative, taken at Bethells beach
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A test photogram, 4 minutes under afternoon sun
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My first image from a printed transparency negative
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Residency Proposal Overview

14/2/2016

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Why create a catalogue of life?
So we can sustainably use, explore, monitor, manage and protect biodiversity resources
Source: http://www.catalogueoflife.org


While keeping New Zealand native life in the foreground, my objective is to explore ideas around collecting and cataloging as a way of promoting species preservation, and the relationship those practices have with supporting a biodiverse, sustainable future.

I plan to collect and collate so that I have a range of information, imagery and objects that I can translate into works on paper, translating some of them into posters for print and social media distribution that include relevant 
messages and statements, as well as objet d'art that I would hope provide interactive experiences with my chosen subject. To do this I am employing a range of materials and media that are new to me within the framework of my existing experience with painting, photography and graphic design.

The location of Earthskin and it’s surrounds are beneficial for keeping nature and wildlife in mind. I plan to use it as a resource, using my finds in this body of work.

​The Waygood Foundation at Piha is an ideal location for allowing the quiet of meditation, the natural peace of the bush and beach walking to support a creative spirit. I believe the environment I work in and the mindfulness in which I approach my work influences what I produce, which in turn has a direct impact on those who experience the work.


Picture

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    Arwen Flowers

    I am very pleased to be participating in a 5 week Earthskin Creative Residency located at the Waygood Foundation in Piha, Auckland, New Zealand.

    This diary aims to document the process, in the hopes that my explorations can encourage and inspire.

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ARWEN FLOWERS – KIWIARTIST