Melissa Veitch

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Blue 2022

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This work is informed by the process and materiality of the cyanotype.  This blueprint process was introduced by John Herschel in 1842, a year later Anna Atkins, a botanist and pioneering figure in photographic history became the first person to ever produce a photographically illustrated book using cyanotypes. 

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Intrigued by this groundbreaking process Melissa looked at manipulating and transforming the application to record a variety of images over varying periods of time. The images are manipulated and edited onto transparencies to capture a visually engaging detail.  Using sunlight as the activator the process becomes unpredictable and ambiguous at the mercy of weather patterns. 

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The themes explored by Melissa's work include the changing visual identities of the natural object over time in regards to rot and decay and recording the decomposition process and searching for pattern, uniformity and the unfamiliar in the final curation.

 

Transformation and manipulation of the every day are constant themes in Melissa's work, encouraging the viewer to look beyond the obvious and mundane to find a deeper level of experience and connection: working across a variety of media and found objects to ignite visceral emotion, memories and lost narratives. 

 

Melissa was born and grew up in London, and is now working and living between West Sussex and London. She is a set and prop designer for photoshoots and videos. Currently, she is in her final year of a 4 year Fine Art Degree with the Open University.