Awakening in Blue

Last February, the Nederlands Fotomuseum opened the doors of its new home with an exhibition on the fascinating nineteenth-century technique of the blueprint: cyanotype. Alongside early examples are the contemporary works of fifteen artists who are reshaping the beautifully deep blue.

Artists Pai Dekkers, Suzette Bousema, Glithero, and Anne Geene work closely with nature and use cyanotypes to capture what often remains invisible: tidal rhythms, traces of plants, and the fragility of ecosystems. Using cyanotype as a powerful medium, makers such as Farah Rahman and Sarojini Lewis question and retell colonial histories. Artists Shehera Grot, Rabin Huissen, and Marijn Kuijper explore cyanotype as an intimate gesture of touch and presence, in which the body functions as a carrier of both personal and collective memories.

Cover image: Suzette Bousema, Future Relics 40, 2025 | © Suzette Bousema