These large scale cyanotypes use invasive plant imagery (often my friend, lotus and my frenemy, Japanese knotweed) to think about climate change. We have two large stands of the knotweed where we live, and for years, I tried to subdue it. Now, I cautiously befriend it and use it in artwork. I don’t work with lamps in these cyanotypes, so there is actual sunlight in the actual art as I work with time and its effects on materials. I combine monotype and cyanotype in these pieces, with entoptic imagery (what we see behind closed eyes) being an outcome of these strategies. On scrolls and panels that can be rearranged (although I often settle on certain adjacencies), these works are variously on kitakata, Stonehenge printmaking, and Arches Lavis Fidelis “En Tout Cas” papers.

Japanese knotweed was considered an ornamental from the late 1880s, and sold as seed until the 1930s.  A rapid spreader, it has pestily taken over parts of my yard, while it provides an abundance for bees and supports immuno-health for people with Lyme Disease.  That one plant can be both scourge and cure is the koan.