Constanza Isaza Martinez

Photographer, Artist and Educator based in London, UK. This blog is for News, Exhibitions and Events. My website is www.constanzaisaza.com

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ACTINIC Festival, Edinburgh

From the ‘Silver Salts’ series, 2010

I’m very pleased to announce that a piece from my ‘Silver Salts’ series has been selected for exhibition at ACTINIC Festival in Scotland this summer.

The festival will run from June 26th - July 26th, and there will be an artists’ reception at Summerhall on July 3rd, 6-8pm.

More info here: http://www.alternativephotographyscotland.org/#!actinic/cihc

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‘Ultraviolet’ at Revela-T Festival, Spain

Constanza Isaza Martínez, Andrés Pantoja and Melanie King, ‘Ultraviolet’. (Image ©Andrés Pantoja)

We’re going to Spain! The organisers or Revela-T have asked us to take our giant cyanotype to Vilassar de Dalt near Barcelona. It will be exhibited during the festival from 19-21st June. 

More info here: http://revela-t.cat/2015/Cianotipia-m%C3%A1s-grande-del-mundo-3/#.VWGJ1GRViko

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Ultraviolet: World Record Cyanotype

The finished Cyanotype, measuring 7.5x15m 

On Saturday 2nd May, Melanie King, Andrés Pantoja and I broke the world record for the largest cyanotype ever made - it measures 7.5x15 metres, or 105 sq m! Previous record-breaking cyanotypes include JJ Hastings and Melanie King’s 6x10m cyanotype, Rosie Emerson’s 6x9m cyanotype, and Vincent Martin and Michel Miguet’s 5.56x7.94 cyanotype.

We were invited by the Wellcome Collection to participate in On Light, a weekend of events based around the theme of our relationship to light. We chose to explore this by making a gigantic cyanotype that visitors to the event could participate in by lying on the light-sensitive fabric and forming part of the image.

By far the hardest part was sensitising and drying the fabric, which we did the night before, under cover of darkness, in the vestibule of St John on Bethnal Green Church. The sensitising process involves dipping the fabric in liquid cyanotype chemistry, wringing out as much as possible, and then hanging to dry - no mean feat when it involves 7.5x15 metres of fine, delicate fabric! We started at 6:30pm and finally managed to get the fabric dry and folded at 2:30am, thanks to an army of heaters, dehumidifiers and fans; not to mention our fantastic helpers Almudena Romero, and Josefina Isaza. Once the fabric was finally dry and light-sensitive, we could roll it up, pack it in black bags, and go get some much needed sleep! 

Soaking the fabric in light-sensitive cyanotype chemistry

The soaked fabric, ready to hang

Hanging in the vestibule of St John on Bethnal Green Church

On Saturday 2nd May, we set off for Malet Place, where the Wellcome Trust and UCL were co-hosting a street party for On Light. It was a cloudy but bright day, and we hoped the weather would hold up as any rain would have made our plans impossible.

At 1:40pm, with a large group of excited participants, we unrolled the huge fabric on the ground and instructed our audience to grab a few circular object from our selection, place them in the centre of the fabric, and lie down around the edges of the fabric. They all willingly obliged and lay still for 20 minutes while the fabric slowly changed from lemon-yellow to dark greenish blue, and finally to a lighter khaki colour. Where our circular objects and peoples’ bodies were blocking the light, the fabric remained unexposed.

The light-sensitive fabric rolled out and ready to expose 

Our human ‘negatives’ in position

Once this khaki colour appeared in the exposed areas, we knew the exposure was done, so we asked our participants to quickly grab all the circular objects and run to the edges of the patio so we could roll up the fabric and move on to the next stage.

Exposure finished, participants rush to remove objects from the fabric  

Processing cyanotypes is quite simple - the unexposed chemistry is simply rinsed off with water. However, when you have a 7.5x15m piece of fabric, nothing is simple! It took around 20 minutes of washing, and several changes of water, to rinse out our cyanotype, after which we could spread it back out on the ground to dry, and give a huge sigh of relief that everything had gone according to plan!

Washing the cyanotype  - image ©Mike Crawford

Laying the processed cyanotype out to dry

Some details from the finished cyanotype

The Ultraviolet Team!  - image ©Mike Crawford

Thanks 

To the Wellcome Collection and UCL teams - especially our primary contacts Lizzy and Emily - for making this crazy idea possible and supporting us throughout every phase of the project!

To all the people who participated and formed part of the image.

To our wonderful helpers Hollie Quinn, Almudena Romero, Francesca Polo, and Josefina Isaza. 

To St John on Bethnal Green Church, who allowed us to use the church vestibule to sensitise the fabric - it was the only space big enough! 

To Chloe McKinney for doing such a brilliant job sewing the fabric together. 

To all our friends who came along to support us - Sheila, Mike, Daniel, Christina, Vivian, Ky, Jesse, Erin, Asya, and everybody else who came along - we couldn’t have done it without you! 

All images ©Andres Pantoja,  except where stated otherwise.

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Artist: Attributed to Julius Wiesner (Austrian, 1838–1916)                     Date: ca. 1870                                     

Medium: Cyanotype                                       

Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.9 cm (3 7/8 x 3 1/8 in.)

Metropolitan Museum of Art

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Delicate. Simple. Beautiful.

Prints by 19th-century botanist and photographer Anna Atkins make up today’s Google Doodle. Explore more of her works here.

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Terry. Cyanotype on Japanese paper. Photograph by Andrés Pantoja, print by Constanza Isaza Martinez.

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Cyanotype on Japanese paper

A preview of one of the prints Melanie King and I will be showing at the ‘Capturing Light’ exhibition at Silverprint Gallery in May.

 https://www.silverprint.co.uk/capturing-light/

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Shadows Symposium, Camberwell College of Art, London, May 18th

Constanza Isaza Martínez, Untitled, from the ‘Prussian Blue’ series

I will be speaking about my work at this symposium on May 18th, alongside artists, curators, and researchers including Martin Barnes (V&A), Professor Tom Hunter (LCC), and Dr. Chiara Ambrosio (UCL). Tickets are free but booking via the UAL website is essential.

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Ultraviolet - world’s largest cyanotype, On Light Street Party at Malet Place, London,  May 2nd, 1pm - 5:30pm

As part of the 'On Light' event organised by the Wellcome Collection, Constanza Isaza Martínez, Andrés Pantoja, and Melanie King will be making a record-breaking attempt to create the world's largest cyanotype.

The cyanotype will be made on Saturday, May 2nd, 2015, as part of a street party held on Malet Place, London. It's free and open to all so do stop by and say hello - if you arrive early, you'll even have the chance to form part of the image!

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Capturing Light, The Silverprint Gallery, London, May 4th - June 13th

I will be showing some of my cyanotypes and photogravures at this exhibition in Silverprint Gallery in May. I will also be showing, for the first time, a series of cameraless cyanotype on Japanese paper made in collaboration with Melanie King.

Constanza Isaza Martínez & Melanie King, Cyanotype on Japanese paper.

The exhibition Capturing Light will explore the ways in which young and emerging photographers are challenging the digital, and using a wide variety of analogue processes, many of which originated in the 19th century.

Exhibiting artists: Rob Ball, Nettie Edwards, Melanie King, Constanza Isaza Martínez and Yaz Norris.

Curated by the London Alternative Photography Collective and Brigitte Lardinois

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Rooftop Collective - Drinks in Soho, Goldcrest, London, April 23rd, 6pm - 8:30pm

The Rooftop Collective warmly invites you to a relaxed evening of drinks, talks, and photography at Goldcrest Soho, 1 Lexington Street, London W1F 9AF.

Exhibiting artists Chris King, Constanza Isaza Martínez, Mary-Jane Maybury, Paul Clifford, and Toby Deveson will be in attendance.