Hospitality, history and home.

This linocut on cyanotype was my entry for the Richmond Art Prize 2026.

The title is 'HOSPITALITY, HISTORY AND HOME'. The print sums up something of the history of Richmond in the passage of the Thames river past it's ancient settlements, big houses and parish churches. A home being a very specific spot, but also a wider context of familiar places. The hospitality of the area is represented by the widely used and ancient symbol of hospitality - the pineapple.[1] The linocut is a more realistic depiction and the cyanotype print is an ancient, stylized representation of a pineapple found carved in stone on the walls of Ham House.

Originals will soon be available on my etsy shop.

For the cyanotype I created a 'master transparency' which I could use multiple times. I drew the shape of the path of the River Thames from an old map. The block of text (which is all about the River Thames and surrounding area) and pictures (of St Peter's Church, Petersham and St Mary Magdelene's Church, Richmond) are taken from an ancient map drawn in 1635 which I found in a book in the Library. I hand drew these from an enlarged printout I made of that map. The pineapple finial, several of which adorn the perimiter walls of Ham House, is a photograph turned into a negative and added to my master transparency. I then carved a linocut of a pineapple to print on top of the finished cyanotype.

[1] https://fruitandgarden.com/pineapple-symbol-of-hospitality/