Creating cyanotype photographs has always been fascinating to me as a visual artist. Whether working with photograms or printing with negatives, the process of using solar exposure to create blue photographic prints feels magical. A recent move from the US to Portugal prompted me to explore the concept of mapping.
Collected blueprints from Parque Natural da Serra de São Mamede, found in the archives of Quinta dos Olhos d'Água, provide a foundation for an artistic project using the cyanotype printing process. Historically, cyanotypes were a technique for duplication of architectural prints and mathematical formulas. This series of topographical blueprints still delineate properties and roads that were a part of the Roman city of Ammaia.
“Mapping” provides a visual investigation of physical and emotional spaces—mapping the past through found objects and charting an idea of “home.” Large scale blueprints are manipulated with layers to create a new mapping of physical place.
