Image - Installation shot of Almost Nothing But Blue Ground, Courtesy of the artists.

Almost Nothing But Blue Ground - A Performance Lecture

Thursday 1st May 2025, 6:00pm - 8:00pm

FREE - All welcome (Booking recommended)

Booking : https://tinyurl.com/y88nyytj

Almost Nothing But Blue Ground is a research project by artists Matthew Benington and Tom Pope.

“It started in 2017 with the intention to explore and celebrate the life and work of Anna Atkins, the first ever person to publish a book of photographic images. After 2 years of research, we began to focus attention on her second publication, Cyanotypes of British and Foreign Ferns, made in collaboration with Anne Dixon. Out of 100 images, 25% represented Jamaican ferns, this led us to question why so many originated in Jamaica. Our research into the UCL Legacies of British Slavery database we discovered that Atkins husband, John Pelly-Atkins, and father in-law, Alderman Atkins, owned 9 plantations in Jamaica, thousands of slaves, boats, and docks. This shifted the focus of the project from celebrating the achievement of Atkins (particularly being a woman at that time) to acknowledging the origins of the privilege that allowed her to achieve it. The research informed a performative week long walk (2021) towing a trolley which exposed prints from Atkins home in Tonbridge to Ferring, where Dixon, her collaborator lived. Our walk went via Sir John Herschel's House in Hawkhurst, Herschel invented the process and would have shared it with Atkins. This research is presented in our work in a considered manner.”

Performance lecture and discussion: 1 hour 15 minutes

The completion of the walk created an archive of cyanotype prints, negatives, artefacts, research, and diary entries.

In the performance assets are shared via a speaker, spoken word, visualiser, data projector and OHP.

Find out more about the artists and their research by following @almostnothingbutblueground on Instagram.