Freda’s cyanotypes stand out for me for three reasons: firstly, she is not creating her prints from the traditional terrestrial botanical forms that we are all familiar with, but from marine species of corals, sponges and sea fans which grow in areas that are largely inaccessible to you and I. Secondly, Freda’s interest is not just an aesthetic one, but a scientific one too. Unsatisfied to enjoy them purely for their protean forms, she attempts to identify each specimen she finds. Whilst she has had some success in this department, there are many examples which she has been unable to identity, and which she suspects are new, undiscovered species.

 

And the last reason I feel passionate about her prints is because of the way she tones them with botanically-derived solutions that produce a spectrum of some of the most beautiful colours I’ve ever seen. These shades of smokey quartz, inky sepias and dirty greens make the prints feel like they are from a by-gone era, and yet somehow they manage to feel new and exciting. A dance between land and sea is created, resulting in something that is truly amphibian.

 

It is poetic then, that it takes an exhibition in an art gallery to shine a light onto these beautiful treasures of the deep. Thanks to Freda, you don’t need an open-water SCUBA licence to appreciate their protean forms; you can pull into Chandler House and enjoy them at your own leisure. We are selling framed cyanotypes on the exhibition, as well as a large collection of unframed prints which would look marvellous as a collection on a wall. 

 

For all sales and inquiries please email or Whatsapp us.

(e): info@chandlerhouse.co.za
(t): +27 83 271 0029