It is now almost a year since the start of the first lockdown, when students were sent home for the first period of home learning due to the pandemic. The immense disruptions to how we teach, learn, communicate and live, triggered me to consider how I can stay in touch with my students and provide an interactive learning experience to them.

Since the spring of 2020 I have been sending cyanotype paper and instructions to my students and fellow artists, using this photographic process as a tool for communication, exchange and a shared experience during lockdown. Now I would like to commemorate this challenging period of time we have lived through by producing a number of outputs which reveals the students' beautiful work through a photo book, a website and an outdoor installation.

The project aims to:

- teach, engage and inform a wide range of participants and audience members of an alternative photographic process

- raise awareness of a non-screen based photography medium in a time where screens are overused

- develop a new approach to how we can teach and inspire during a pandemic with limited access to materials

- influence the local community and those involved with the project in a time of stagnant life

- unite a diverse group of people from different age groups, backgrounds and nationalities

- democratise the arts by creating opportunities for young people to be exposed to art making, installation and publication, especially now, during a pandemic and encourage a lifelong love of the arts or to ensure access to the arts is not compromised due to the restrictions of the pandemic.

I would love to create a photo book of all the cyanotype prints I have received back and a permanent installation of selected students' prints on the outside of the Atkins Block at Graveney School. All participants in the book would receive a free copy of it. I would also deliver a digital and eventual physical launch of the book, alongside the permanent online archive of prints and communication exchanged during the project.

I will send cyanotype paper to my new students: any new works created after the book is published will be collected online, part of the archive capturing our collective experience through cyanotypes. Each part of this project will serve as an accessible community art piece and a useful teaching and learning resource for the future.

I am currently in the process of applying for Arts Councils funding to make this project a reality. Graveney School have also offered a generous contribution towards the overall costs. However any small donations would be of huge help in driving this project forward.

Thank you!