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~a murmuration of photographic artists~
2024 World Cyanotype Day
Saturday, September 28, 2024
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Enchantment by definition is to be charmed, to be under a spell. To charm and to be charmed, one needs to be present for what is about to be illuminated. Cyanotypes naturally charm by the process of using ultraviolet light to develop what the creator imagines. This year, we invite you to reflect on the idea that the very process of making your cyanotype is an imaginative enchanting act resulting in an enchanted object of art. Consider the process itself with which you make to be a summoning of grace for a troubled world. See how the process of making your cyanotype becomes an illumination of ordinary life wherever you are in the world that then becomes amplified into a larger communal and international experience of what it means to charm and to be charmed. Put another way, making your cyanotype has the potential to illuminate the ordinary through the layering of things in such a way as to transform and transfigure what previously was unseen or unnoticed for a global witnessing. Your piece doesn’t necessarily need to be “charming” in the facile sense of the word. This endeavor is about allowing yourself as maker to be charmed by the process of creating, and in turn, to enchant thousands of others through what the global collaboration reveals in the end. We can be enchanted by the presence of something such as a leaf or a flower, but we can also be enchanted by the absence of something such as the space between objects that gives something its shape and form. For example, cyanotypes depicting intricate fashions of lace would not be interesting if it weren't for the absence of thread in the patterns. Allow what’s present and absent to reveal, challenge, broaden, console, and heal.
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Consider and study these three questions:
1) What is present and absent in your practice/life that enchants you?
2) What is present and absent in the construction and layering of your piece?
3) What is present and absent in your finished cyanotype?
Theme: Enchantment
For submissions & more details on how to participate: www.worldcyanotypeday.com
Since the inception of World Cyanotype Day, on September 19, 2015, creating "Big Blue" we have seen this movement blossom and grow into a global celebration! Our founder, Judy would have been beyond Jolly to witness the mission of Shootapalooza continue to connect art and its communities
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