Tomorrow, Saturday, September 26, is World Cyanotype Day!
According to the Alternative Photography website, “once a year the cyanotype gets special attention. Since 2015 the cyanotype is celebrated on the last Saturday in September in the yearly event World cyanotype Day. “ As Amanda Smith of A Smith Gallery explains it, the late alternative process photographer Judy Sherrod, who started the first World Cyanotype Day, reasoned that since there was a World Pinhole Day, why couldn’t there be a World Cyanotype Day?
The theme for this year’s World Cyanotype Day is “Interconnected.” A Smith Gallery explains,
Now, in the age of pandemics it is more evident than ever how we are dramatically interconnected, interdependent and just one part of the vast ecology of the earth, the web of life. The web of life as an illustration of the totality of the relationships of the earth’s systems explains for us how the whole is greater than the sum of its parts; more powerful, more vital – complete. As a beautiful cut glass vase is much more than particles of sand, soda and lime, we, humanity are much more than one person, one community, one nation.
The challenging moment that we are all living through illustrates absolutely how interconnected we are — how much we need each other physically, materially and spiritually. It is not just our human to human connection that we need and miss right now — it is also our connection to nature and wildlife and weather.
My cyanotype photogram, Mandala 260 (together) is part of the World Cyanotype Day installation at A Smith Gallery.
In this installation, many artists’ 12”x12” cyanotype flags are strung together in the gallery, symbolizing interconnectedness.
The installation will hang in the gallery until November 8. The flags will then be taken to New Orleans to the Healing Arts Center for an exhibition beginning in December for PhotoNOLA until the end of Mardi Gras. A Smith Gallery is located at 103 N. Nugent Ave., Johnson City, TX 78636. There will be a Facebook Live Art Walk on Saturday, September 26, at 5:00 p.m. Central time.
There is also a wonderfully diverse online World Cyanotype Day exhibition at the Alternative Photography website, which, as of September 23, already includes work by 84 artists from 29 countries - and my image above.