 Mawddach Residency – Melanie King In Winter 2025, I was Artist In Residence at Mawddach Residency. I found out very close to the residency that I had funding via a bursary from A-N. This gave me the confidence to try out some experimental ideas, whilst also pushing me to spend a longer time working through the results of the residency. Before attending the residency, I had been working with sustainable photographic processes (such as making my own plant based film developers) and analogue astronomical photography. However, I had not combined the two processes together! Whilst on residency I was keen to take analogue photographs of the night sky and use my seaweed-gin film recipe to develop the images. I spent time outside at night taking photographs of the stars. Now I’m back at my own darkroom in Ramsgate, I have been testing out different development times. I have not yet been successful in producing an image (my last film came out completely black). However, I know that I will manage it eventually with time. Currently, I think it is an issue with the difference in film type, but I won’t bore you with nerdy details! During the residency, I also took several digital photographs of the landscape that I will make into duotone cyanotypes from 20 March onwards. In previous months, I had made duotone cyanotypes of the ‘Pillars of Creation’ nebula, but this residency will give me the opportunity to try the process out on landscape photographs. In June, I will be leading an online two day cyanotype duotone workshop with Mawddach Residency and Draw Brighton. Though much of the above work is speculative, I also took some photographs of areas surrounding the residency for my ‘Submerged Landscapes’ project. According to the Climate Central app, areas of the UK are likely to be affected by rising tides. Fairbourne, sitting close to the Mawddach Estuary, is said to be one of the first towns that may be abandoned due to sea level rise. Submerged Landscapes is an ongoing project where I document the affected areas before they are submerged, using the materiality of the sea within the production of the work. To produce these images, I have used my seaweed-gin film developer recipe. Here are some images and the recipe I used below: Eggwrack/ Bladderwrack Seaweed-Gin Developer Recipe.
Suitable for 2 x 35mm films, or 1 medum format film. (HP5, Kentmere 400, FP4 100) 100g eggwrack seaweed steeped in 200ml of gin and 400ml of hot water. Left for 3 days to encourage phenol extraction. In a separate jug take 300ml of warm water and add the following. Both powders should be dissolved completely before moving on to the next step. - 100g Soda Crystals - 24g vitamin c - Add your seaweed brew and top up to 600ml. Best developing time and temperature: 25 minutes, 24C (For the ‘underexposed’ Ilford Delta 3200 film, I tried to develop for 75 mins at 24C – but the film came out overdeveloped). Melanie King website patreon
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