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cyanotype prints made with thermal paper on cotton
Cyanotypes, once a common method for reproducing blueprints and photographs, have largely fallen out of use as more economical technologies for image reproduction have emerged. This project revisits the alternative photographic process, combining it with materials used in documentary practices today: thermal paper containing Bisphenol A (BPA) or Bisphenol S (BPS) and chemically treated cotton rag paper.
These materials, though problematic, are industry standards thanks to their efficiency. Phenols in thermal paper act as a developer for quick, inkless printing with just the application of heat. Chemically treated cotton boosts crop yields, and is therefore the most commercially available.
As the dangers of microplastics and pesticides continue to be researched, these photograms explore parallel usages of hazardous substances in both the history of photography and our contemporary norms around record keeping, productivity, and trade.