Holly Sandiford has been named as a finalist in the Royal Photographic Society’s Woman Science Photographer Of The Year, 2023. Here, the Director of Norwich-based ArtatWork CIC explains how she uses the arts to connect both herself and others to the natural world
I am an artist and arts educator and co-director of ArtatWork CIC, an arts for wellbeing organisation. In my own creative practice I use mostly cameraless photography to explore ideas around the micro and macro and to use the arts to connect both myself and others to the natural world.
ArtatWork has been going for six years now. We use the arts to improve wellbeing and mental health through both long running projects and one off sessions, often combining the visual arts with either walking and heritage. We have just started a big project in Norwich to support mental health using the arts to research Norwich’s textile industry with people with mental health issues. We also run weekly arts for wellbeing sessions for people with mental health issues.
I love both science and photography and playing with the intersection between both. Much of my work is experimental. My house is full of bottles containing mini ecosystems, attempts at growing fungus and the like. For me science and the arts have more in common than most people think as it’s all about pushing your practice and experimentation. I love that at the age of 45 I can still get excited about the world and how it works. This competition therefore seemed the perfect format for my work, but I really didn’t think that I would get selected.
I think it is important for female artists and photographer and artists to be recognised because it encourages young women to get involved in photography and the sciences. I have personally been really inspired by the other photographers in the competition which is invigorating to my own practice. It is great to find other women who use photography to explore the sciences.
Space and Soil 2 was an idea that evolved over time and through making. Instead of thinking of an idea and then creating it, I like it when ideas are generated through experimentation. For this image I painted soil collected at night-time along the River Wensum and then painted with it onto expired photographic paper to create the image. The concept behind the work is to show the beauty of the soil by comparing it to space. The soil is full of life, in one teaspoon of soil there are as many microorganisms as there is life on earth. It’s beautiful and awe-inspiring and we need to protect it more to help preserve diversity of life on our world rather than seeing it as mere ‘dirt’.
It is actually a still form of a video I made during my recent time as a postgraduate student at Norwich University of the Arts. you can see the full film here.
To be named as a finalist gives me more confidence in my practice and also raises the profile as cameraless photography in the photographic world. I love to keep experimenting and I am currently building an observational wormery so I can view and take photographs of worms in the soil!
Visit Holly Sandiford: Artist and Educator on wordpress.com; Holly Sandiford and ArtatWork CIC on Instagram
Leave a Reply