Photographs of British Algae.

Cyanotype Imperfections. By Mandy Barker.

Gost Books, 2025. 160 pp., 76 images, 7¾x10x1".

Over the course of a decade Barker recovered over 200 ‘specimens’ of clothing from 121 beaches from locations as far north as John O’Groats in Scotland, to Land’s End in the South of England. Items ranging from jackets to dressing-up outfits, wigs and trainers, football shirts to underwear, were salvaged from beaches, rockpools and directly from the sea. The items were representative of millions of tonnes of clothes manufactured and discarded each year—sometimes without being worn at all. Every year, the fashion industry is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than all international flights and container ships combined.

For each alternative ‘specimen’ in the book Barker created a photogram of the clothing fragments using the cyanotype process to produce detailed Prussian blueprints. The project is inspired by the work of Victorian botanist and photographer, Anna Atkins who used cyanotypes in her groundbreaking book Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions (1843) to produce detailed depictions of botanical specimens. By combining art and science, Atkin’s work illustrated the potential of photography and changed how people looked at science in the 1800s.

‘Seeing the potential to re-create new work in a similar way, I realised I could engage how people view science today, and in connection with the present-day consequences of climate change.’

To coincide with the 180th anniversary of Atkin’s book, Barker painstakingly created a replica of the original publication with 202 illustrations, each with the botanical specimen substituted with found garments or fibres. The publication Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Imperfections is a carefully edited version of this replica project and begins with outer garments of clothing, such as a waterproof and parka coat, ending with inner garments of underwear worn closest to the skin.

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