I'm delighted to share that I'll be giving an online lecture for the Linnean Society of London on Wednesday 18 November, from 12.30 to 1.15pm, as part of their Herbarium | Plants in New Light series.
Anna Atkins's Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions (1843–53) is often celebrated as the first photographically illustrated book and as a landmark in the history of women, botany and photography. In this talk I'll revisit Atkins through the collections and classificatory cultures that shaped her work, and ask how the blue image might also speak to the present climate crisis. Moving between botanical taxonomy, Linnaean classification, cyanotype chemistry, algae, seawater, archives and contemporary cameraless practice, I want to consider her not simply as a historical pioneer but as a figure through whom we can rethink the relations between plants, water, scientific knowledge and photographic materiality.
I'll also connect this to my current practice-led PhD research and ecological photographic works, including The Ecological Wetroom, and to questions of residue, care and environmental responsibility — asking how a nineteenth-century process might help us imagine more accountable photographic futures.
- When: Wednesday 18 November, 12.30–1.15pm GMT
- Where: Online — the joining link is sent out two hours before the event
- Booking: via Eventbrite
Donations are welcome and go towards the Linnean Society's nature outreach programme.