Hospitality, history and home

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

The title is, 'HOSPITALITY, HISTORY AND HOME'. I tried to convey something of Richmond's history in the passage of the River Thames past ancient settlements, big houses and parish churches. Home is a specific place, but also a wider context of familiar areas. Hospitality is represented by the ancient symbol of hospitality - the pineapple.[1] The linocut is a more realistic depiction of the fruit and the cyanotype print is one of the stylised, stone pineapples which sit along the walls of Ham House. A lovely place to stop for tea and cake.

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/