Creating Contrast
Using the simple yet fascinating print making technique known as cyanotype, or sun print, hundreds of participants were invited to contribute hand prints during community workshops facilitated by visual artist William Debois across January 2024. The contour of the human hand offers a strongly symbolic motif as it blocks ultra violet light from the sun, creating a contrast between the unexposed white paper and the blue tone of the reactive cyanotype solution. Gathered from people of all ages in schools, disability support services and aged care respite centres, the prints were then turned into boxes as part of the Creating Contrast installation in the Imaginarts space at Bundaberg Regional Gallery, on display from May to September 2024. The vast collection of instantly recognisable shapes that resulted from the workshops reminds us that what unites people collectively often derives from unique individual characteristics coming together.