IMBY (in my back yard)
Maurice Lye, Barracouta, 2025, toned cyanotype, 640gsm 100% cotton paper, 600 x 740mm
My back yard has been a repository for over 40 years of collecting ‘found object treasures.’ Death and life cycles are a constant theme in my work. Many of the plants in my backyard are left to go wild. Naturally going to seed and rambling. The natural consequences of wear and tear attract me to many of the objects in my collection. Some pieces are brought home with the intention to photograph them. Using natural light from the sun to illuminate them is a core value to my approach to recording the world around me. About 20 years ago this need to use sunlight steered me towards using Cyanotype as a means to make photographic prints. The simplicity and hands on nature of the process also appealed greatly. After several years of playing with the process, I tried different watercolour papers as the medium to apply the Cyanotype emulsion to. I then decided to make large prints, from large negatives, from a large camera. I wanted the whole process to be able to be done with out any use of electricity if I chose to. I began to make a home made camera from readily available materials. The size of the negatives I was after were big. 24 x 30inches. To achieve a negative of this size, I taped together nine sheets of 8” x 10” photo paper and loaded them into a Dark Slide. After the photograph has been taken, the paper is untaped and developed in the dark room. Once they are processed and dried, the nine sheets are re taped and placed face-down on the Cyanotype coated watercolour paper. They are then clamped together under a sheet of glass and left in full sunshine for many hours. After this the sheets are washed, dried, toned, washed and dried again.
The smaller black and white prints use a similar approach, they are taken on photographic paper which when processed (with additional stages) reverses them into one off positive prints. I like to think the concept, process and finished image are tightly interwoven.