Almost Nothing But Blue Ground - Tom Pope and Matthew Benington

Almost Nothing But Blue Ground is a project initiated by Tom Pope and Matthew Benington exploring the work and life of Anna Atkins, who was a pivotal figure in the history of British photography and produced the first book that used photographic illustrations, British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions in 1843. Atkins was a direct and indirect beneficiary of colonial exploitation. Almost Nothing But Blue Ground focuses specifically on Atkins’ later book Cyanotypes of British and Foreign Ferns, which was created collaboratively with Anne Dixon in 1853. Many of the ferns included in the book were from Jamaica - testifying to the fact that Atkins’ husband and father-in-law jointly owned at least eight plantations and thousands of slaves in Jamaica.

Almost Nothing But Blue Ground uses research, socially engaged strategies of making and dialogic modes to explore the links between botany and the plundering of foreign lands. Many of the exhibited prints were created during a performative week-long walk that Pope and Benington conducted in 2021, when they travelled from Atkins' house in Tonbridge to Dixon's in Ferring. On the journey, Pope and Benington dragged a trolley that carried photographic darkroom equipment and served as a table for them to create, socialise, and discuss the impetus of the project with people they met along the way.

The Jamaican plant specimens printed by Atkins within British Algae and Foreign Ferns were in turn walked and recorded on UK soil via Strava before being printed during the weeklong performative walk. Walking all day with a wheel bound object emphasised the boundaries between public and private land. The countryside we walked privileged access to the physically mobile, public footpaths closed off by landowners resulted in huge detours. Our walk took us past Battle Abbey, monument to the Norman Invasion of 1066, a site emblematic of patriarchal primogeniture, the legal system where married women were not permitted to inherit land unless there was an absent son.

Less than 1% of the population own over 50% of the land in Britain. After 1066 poaching on lands previously belonging to and accessed by common people was an offence prosecutable via capital punishment. Historical and recent mass trespasses have opened access to sections of land which are publicly accessible to this day. We reference the disparate history of land protest through the prints we made on the walk, using negatives and deadfall from key sites.

The community display case is available to Royal Borough of Kingston’s residents, artists, makers, community groups and local schools.

This is a great way to showcase your artwork, project or organisation. Each display typically stays up for a month, and the case is located in the heart of Kingston Museum.

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