Nature Photograms in the Anthropocene (360G-Wellcome-218342_Z_19_Z)

This project considers the photographic practice of three contemporary artists who produce photograms, intimate close-ups of the natural world, asking: how do these artists portray humanity’s relationship with and responsibility for nature in the age of the Anthropocene? I will be working with a selection of material from the V & A Photography Collection to investigate the contemporary resonances of (and historical references to) the Victorian cyanotype photograms of Anna Atkins’, who pioneered nature photography in 1854. In particular, I will be looking at photograms produced by Barbara Baran (1956–) and Zafer Baran (1955–), Elaine Duigenan (1964–), and well-known photographer Garry Fabian Miller (1957–), as well as Anna Atkins’ cyanotypes. I will draw on the V & A’s previous exhibition "Shadow Catchers: Camera-less Photography" (13 October 2010 to 20 February 2011) and its associated publication Shadow Catchers: Camera-less Photography (2010), curated and written by Martin Barnes, Senior Curator of Photographs at the V & A. This project will look particularly at the ways in which contemporary artists utilise photogram technology to highlight an intimacy and proximity between humans and the natural world, and how this emphasis on intimacy and proximity poses a call to greater responsibility for the natural world.