Cygnus Suite

Cygnus suite is a collection of cyanotypes of swans and swan related objects found in locations in London based on a map of the star constellation cygnus, the swan. The different stars in the constellation are represented by parks or other places you might find swans, you can see the google map here. This work was the result of taking part in the ‘Starlight’ artists’ residency with Mayes Creative and The Royal Astronomical  Library.

A collection of 9 cyanotype prints of swans
A collection of cyanotype prints of 21 swan related objects from the Welcome Collection in London

All the images are catalogued, similar to how stars and other astronomical phenomena are catalogued, each with its own number. Swan images are catalogued  – Co (Cygnus olor, mute swan latin name); HP/BP/SJP/BM/WC (Hyde Park/Burgess Park or Battersea Park/British Musuem/Wellcome Collection); W2/SE5/SW11/SW1A/ WC1/NW1 (park/museum postcode); 1,2,3…(image number). Feather numbered simply F1, F2 etc, in a similar style to messier numbers and Mpm is Miscellaneous printed material, Si is Swan image. Some of the images have colour added to the cyanotype using inks, this is to represent the different colours seen in the particular star.

A collection of 20 cyanotype prints of 19 swan related objects from the British Museum in London