And So I Watch You From Afar explores the fragility and resilience of vulnerable coastal ecosystems through cameraless, eco-friendly cyanotype techniques, invented in 1842, and sourced from coastal regions across the British Isles, Ireland, the Baltics, and the Middle East. This exhibition features work created with natural elements directly harvested from the local seafront – polluted seawater, sand, silt, sunlight, and organic materials.
Aindreas’ work reveals the transient challenges and subtle transformations of these critical landscapes, which face increasing threats from rising sea levels, soil erosion, and intensified storm surges driven by human-induced climate change. Emphasising the interplay between water and land, as well as the impact of human activity, the cyanotype process becomes both a medium and a metaphor – historically significant, yet environmentally sustainable.
The resulting pieces evoke a multiplicity of forms: from satellite images of storm-wracked coastlines to cosmic nebulae, molecular structures, or intricate mycelial networks. These textures emerge through the interaction of materials — sea salt crystallisation, locally sourced seawater, and cyanotypes’ iron-based compounds — each with its own agency and independent life cycle. The embedded elements not only shape the resulting work but also return the viewer’s gaze, creating a dialogue between observer and observed.
Aindreas also examines the origins of the cyanotype process itself, using materials like potassium ferricyanide, ferric ammonium citrate, iron oxide, potassium hydroxide — substances tied to industrial iron mining extraction — to question the environmental cost of photographic practices. By employing studio lighting, backdrops, and large-scale presentation, the work confronts the footprint of the photography industry, historical and toxic darkroom chemicals to LED studio lighting and the legacy of unsustainable future waste. Scaling up these issues highlights their urgency, while the use of readily available materials grounds the practice in both practicality and reflection on the ethics of image-making.
