Kew Gardens Workshop Commission for Herbarium Staff

KEW GARDENS & FERN HERBARIUM CYANOTYPES

Kew Gardens commissioned a cyanotype workshop inspired by ferns from its living collection. During the session, members of Kew staff worked with fresh specimens, arranging and printing them by hand onto A3 Herbarium sheets.

The idea was inspired by the work of Anna Atkins, a British botanist and pioneering photographer who used cyanotype to record delicate specimens of algae in the 1840s. Her publication, Photographs of British Algae, brought photography and botanical study together, using light to preserve the shape and structure of plants directly on paper.

The workshop took place in the Nash Conservatory and lasted around four hours. Each participant created several cyanotypes, experimenting with the shadows, patterns and delicate structures of different ferns.

The prints were completed on the day. Participants could take some home, while others were left with Kew to become part of the Herbarium collection. The original fern specimens were also pressed, preserved and numbered, so the plant and its photographic impression could be kept together—continuing the dialogue between botanical research, photography and the archive.