Anna Walsh

Anna Welsh’s work investigates the complex ways humans interact with the natural world. She is particularly drawn to the blurred lines between fact, fiction, hearsay, and anecdote—believing that these intersections often reveal the most compelling truths about our relationships with nature and animals.

Her series Alpha Cygni Variables consists of cyanotypes (sun prints) created during an artist residency focused on the theme of Starlight. Centering on the star constellation Cygnus, the project led Welsh to explore symbolic and visual connections between stars and swans. While viewing the Cygnus constellation is nearly impossible from light-polluted London, swans—its avian namesake—are a common sight in the city’s many parks. This duality inspired her to merge the celestial with the earthly.

In these works, Welsh digitally layers her own photographs of swans with screen prints of the Milky Way before transforming them into cyanotypes, resulting in rich, celestial circular forms. Some pieces in the series feature a warm yellow hue, achieved through a two-layer cyanotype process: the first layer is bleached with soda crystals, followed by a second cyanotype printed on top.

The title refers to variable stars whose brightness shifts over time as observed from Earth. Alpha Cygni variables, in particular, are known for their subtle, non-radial pulsations. Welsh was drawn to this idea of fluctuation and variability, mirroring the nature of the cyanotype process itself—each print unique, each image subtly different.