I'm at the centre for interpretation of vinho verde in Ponte de Lima, Portugal. I'm installing several hundred origami cranes as cyanotype images (#metamorphogram) in the shape of a river - the river Lima, which is about 100m away.
This is just the beginning, so very much a #WIPWednesday post!

How fast can you fold orizuru?

I am making an installation which will use about 500-700 orizuru. Each is made from cyanotype coated tissue paper or rice paper. After a while they turn into pictures. They are #metamorphogram images. They will be hung in this form.

This is not a good origami paper, so I'm going at 20-30 per hour!

Some more cyanotypes from the last few days. It's not been sunny, but enough UV light gets through the clouds to drive the reaction.

Having said that, some of these exposures run into days...

#cyanotype
#blueprint
#origami
#metamorphogram
#memory
#PhilosophyOfMemory #reeds #waves #longexposure #abstract #cameraless #cameralessPhotography

I have been back making cyanotypes.

Each of of these cyanotypes is a literal memory (as defined by my first philosophy of memory publication!).

Artist life has been hard lately. No change there, really, but it helps to make things.

A little toot on my own trumpet...

The 10 images in the series 'The Scar Is Not The Memory' will be for sale as part of the 12x12 Festival in Lisbon, 7-10 December.

Everything in the festival is just €25 each.

There will be an online catalogue available shortly.

Find 12x12 on Insta here: https://www.instagram.com/1_2_x_1_2/

See a reel of all the series here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CzlUxgxI0MG/

Thank you!

More of the series 'The Scar Is not The Memory'

Cyanotype on watercolour paper with silk stitching.

#metamorphogram
#origami
#blueprint
#cyanotype
#memory
#philosophy
#philosophyofmemory
#redthread
#scar
#VisibleMending
#octagon #triangle #squares #geometric #orizuru

The Scar Is Not The Memory. Metamorphogram, silk thread.

First in a series.

Unfolding origami, folds remain, like scars gained in the process.

But a scar is a mnemonic, not a memory.

Here, the memory (cyanotype + origami = metamorphogram; a visible memory) and scars overlap.

Sometimes, the process of becoming is so tough that stitches are needed to repair the damage.

My piece for the Mnemosyne show at gallery AL859 in Porto.

The 2nd picture shows how it was exposed - as an origami cyanotype made of 30 individual pieces.

The 3rd picture shows all the developed individual images opened out.

The exhibited composition reflects how our unique experiences of the same event come together to give us a new, shared, social memory.

This is 'crumple' origami. Used a lot by French origamists 'Le CRIMP'.

Thin, crisp paper (here tracing paper) is folded and then crushed. The process allows the paper to be shaped into flexible, organic forms.

This paper was coated in cyanotype. The form I made was exposed in the sun for 10 minutes, and developed.

If I hadn't put my fingers through the wet paper it would be good!

I've been interviewed about my background, process, cyanotypes, origami, memory and more.

You can watch it here (18 mins):
https://youtu.be/1V7hR8fEvnA

(Disclosure: Subcultours facilitate artist workshops, and invited me to join them)

I hate being in front of the camera, so this is a rare occurrence. And... is there anyone out there who likes the sound of their own voice?

This is the 'Spreading Hexagons' tessellation, by Eric Gjerde.

I folded it from 200gsm watercolour paper coated with cyanotype chemicals.

It sat outside almost five days.

Long exposure pushes cyanotype blue into a golden-greenish blue instead.

I like how the edges of the folds have described a multiplicity of hexagons.

Origami is cool.

Sometimes you make things for sheer curiosity.

I've been trying tessellated origami forms for a while. This one is appealing as it is easy to fold and fun to play with.

I folded it from a sheet of watercolour paper coated with cyanotype.

It went outside for a day or so.

When developed, it looked like the final picture.

So now I know. Curiosity sated. Until next time.

Four potential compositions for the 30 cyanotypes that used to be a single origami form.

Should they become a collage or... revert to form?

Let me know which one works for you.

Took the 30-unit modular origami apart and developed all the pieces into 30 similar but unique images.

30 objects which had exactly the same preparation, exactly the same form, became part of the same 'community' in the same place for the same time.

And yet, each perception differs slightly, each memory is the consequence of individual experience within that group.

But now, what?

30 Views of a June Day - work in progress.

Cyanotype-coated watercolour paper made 30 'turtle' units for this model.

It was left outside for 24 hours. It's now going to be developed and... possibly collaged or reconstructed.

Exploring ideas about how we each have unique memories of a shared experience. Variables, in this case, include our point of view and our interactions with others.

The other two metamorphograms, now finished.

First was an argonaut, second a segmented shell, both designs by Japanese origami artist #TomokoFuse

I have plans for them, exploring the philosophical idea of vicarious memories. I.e. when we 'remember' our parent's early life, because they repeatedly told us about it.

The metamorphograms from a little while ago are done. They were exposed for about 4 days.

This one was the maple leaf. There are at least four distinct layers in shades of blue.

My poor folding of the stalk of the leaf is shown in all it's chaotic glory!