Handprinted cyanotype artwork from the exhibition ‘The Endless Turn and Return’. Made using a hand-coated glass slide and Eileen’s antique bellows camera. Each slide is developed using a homemade plant-based developer, sourced from’ The Gatehouse Studios’ garden, where Eileen has her studio and darkroom. This former caretaker’s lodge sits in a disused Victorian cemetery, now a nature reserve and is a wild and beautiful place that provides a constantly changing tapestry of seasonal plant life. Each unique piece was carefully coated and exposed in the sun, using recycled packaging, before being developed using rainwater gathered in the studio garden.
Eileen’s practice fosters a more eco-conscious approach to image-making, which explores the cyclical nature of life, the network of multiple, diverse relationships, and the issues surrounding sustainability. Using the cyanotype process, an extremely low-toxic iron-based process discovered by Sir John Hershel in the 1850’s, she has produced a body of work that reflects the ‘Vanitas’ tradition of 17th-century Dutch still-life painting. This style of work was a visual representation of philosophical ideas about the nature of life, referencing the transience and impermanence of earthly existence. The word ‘Vanitas’ derives from the Hebrew ‘Hebel’, which translates literally as ‘breath’. Created at a time of great social uncertainty and anxiety, they seem a fitting reference in our current climate.
14 X 22 cm
P&P is included in the price to the UK. All items, unless otherwise agreed, are sent by Royal Mail 48 hrs tacked service. Please use the contact form for non-UK postal services or other queries.
Handprinted cyanotype artwork from the exhibition ‘The Endless Turn and Return’. Made using a hand-coated glass slide and Eileen’s antique bellows camera. Each slide is developed using a homemade plant-based developer, sourced from’ The Gatehouse Studios’ garden, where Eileen has her studio and darkroom. This former caretaker’s lodge sits in a disused Victorian cemetery, now a nature reserve and is a wild and beautiful place that provides a constantly changing tapestry of seasonal plant life. Each unique piece was carefully coated and exposed in the sun, using recycled packaging, before being developed using rainwater gathered in the studio garden.
Eileen’s practice fosters a more eco-conscious approach to image-making, which explores the cyclical nature of life, the network of multiple, diverse relationships, and the issues surrounding sustainability. Using the cyanotype process, an extremely low-toxic iron-based process discovered by Sir John Hershel in the 1850’s, she has produced a body of work that reflects the ‘Vanitas’ tradition of 17th-century Dutch still-life painting. This style of work was a visual representation of philosophical ideas about the nature of life, referencing the transience and impermanence of earthly existence. The word ‘Vanitas’ derives from the Hebrew ‘Hebel’, which translates literally as ‘breath’. Created at a time of great social uncertainty and anxiety, they seem a fitting reference in our current climate.
14 X 22 cm
P&P is included in the price to the UK. All items, unless otherwise agreed, are sent by Royal Mail 48 hrs tacked service. Please use the contact form for non-UK postal services or other queries.
