Join us for SALA 2025:
Alchemy of Blue by artist Ellen Schlobohm
31 JULY – 1 SEPTEMBER 2025
Developed by sunlight, Alchemy of Blue is a luminous series of cyanotypes by South Australian artist Ellen Schlobohm, celebrating the intricate beauty of nature and the enduring presence of history.
Using the historic cyanotype technique — a photographic printing process that predates even film — Schlobohm creates cameraless images by placing objects directly onto sensitised paper and exposing them to UV light. The result: delicate, ethereal blue compositions that hold both detail and mystery.
This process, once used for botanical documentation by pioneering figures like Anna Atkins, becomes in Schlobohm’s hands a poetic visual language — one that bridges science and art, past and present. Each work invites viewers to slow down and observe the forms, textures, and light that shape our everyday environments and collective memory.
Presented in partnership with the Barossa Museum, the exhibition is grounded in dialogue with the Museum’s extensive collection of antique cameras, photographic tools, and early prints. While Schlobohm’s cyanotypes are made without a camera, their presence pays homage to the technical ingenuity and historical legacy of photography. The exhibition reframes the act of image-making as both documentation and alchemy — an interplay of chemistry, sunlight, and time.
Bathed in stunning shades of indigo and Prussian blue, Alchemy of Blue offers viewers a contemplative visual narrative: one that honours the evolving relationship between nature, memory, and the photographic image.
