Rajul Iyer
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After training in the Biological Sciences and undertaking
teaching and research at various universities in India and the U.S.A.,
Iyer immigrated to Canada in 1962. From 1966 -1984, she was on the
faculty of the University of Ottawa. Her training in the arts between
1962 and 1966 was at the Ottawa Municipal Arts Centre. Although research
and teaching were exciting and fulfilling, the desire to experience
the arts fully made her leave one world behind and enter another.
Photography became the medium of choice after attending selected courses
offered at Carleton University and the University of Ottawa. Mostly
self-taught, she now participates in workshops in specialized areas
of the discipline offered by master photographers at various centres
in the U.S.A.
Exhibition "Ninety Nine" April
2008
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Back Entrance
Gum over Cyano on sized Masa
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Moving Day
Gum on sized Masa
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The southeast corner where Benvoulin and K.L.O. Roads intersect, the
site of the Old Tobacco Farm, has stoutly resisted the frenzied changes
to Kelowna's skyline and topography. Embedded in the gentle embrace
of time, the HOMESTEAD that stands across from the Tobacco Barn, was
home to the McFarlane family between 1932 and 1983.
Five generations of this family have lived in or witnessed the inevitable,
gracious aging of their home. It was built in 1909 at the same time
as the three tobacco barns that stood across from it. Only one barn,
familiarly referred to as the Old Tobacco Barn, has survived.
Prints of the HOMESTEAD have attempted to capture fragments of memories
left by the family that lived there for over five decades. Not everything
is revealed, leaving the interested viewer room to infer from the
state of disrepair, remnants of scattered objects, and the contents
in the attic, what the Homestead must have been in its heyday.
We are nudged to reminisce about the homes in which we were born and
grew up, then flew away from, prompting us to examine who we once
were, who we are now, and whether we can return to the portals we
crossed decades ago. Does nostalgia inform us of the long forgotten
emotions, now buried deep in our subconscious? Does it help us connect
with and better understand ourselves in the ever-changing context
of our fast-paced lives?
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Family Room
Gum over Cyano on sized Masa
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Barn through back porch
Gum on sized Masa
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THE MCFARLANE STORY
Mr. Oliver McFarlane, the present owner, inherited the farm his father
bought in 1932. The Depression had been under way for two years. Tobacco
had become an uneconomic cash crop and was rapidly replaced by fruit
farming. Being cattle farmers, the McFarlanes used the barn to store
hay.
Oliver and his wife, Audrey, and their four children moved into the
Homestead in 1952. The children walked to Mission Creek School and
each had farm duties to attend to. Milking cows was not a favorite
with the boys who much preferred fixing up old cars while the girls
played house or chased friends. In 1965, Oliver sold all his cattle
and bought a new Ford for $3700, opening up the Okanagan valley to
weekend outings and knitting the family closer.
By 1984, the children had long left home to pursue their different
interests; Oliver and Audrey, moved out of the Homestead to their
new home built on the farm for as much as it would have cost to repair
the Homestead.
Audrey lost her fight against cancer in 2001. Marilyn, a lab technician
in the food industry, is based in Nanaimo. Jean, located in White
Rock, went to business college and worked for Imperial Oil. Pat, the
oldest son, has retired from his Highways Department job and lives
a few doors away from his father. Rob, a truck driver, lives in Oyama.
The frequency with which the children visit Oliver is proportional
to the distance they live from the farm.
At 87, Oliver has 5 grand children and one great grand child.
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Oliver's Jacket
Gum on sized Masa
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Front Entrance
Gum on sized Masa
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MBR
Gum over Cyano on sized Masa
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To Children's World
Gum on sized Masa
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Jean's Room
Gum on sized Masa
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Boy's Room
Gum over Cyano on sized Masa
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Marylyn's Room
Gum over Cyano on sized Masa
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Attic a
Gum on sized Masa
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Attic b
Gum over Cyano on sized Masa
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Old Tabacco Barn
Gum over Platinum on shrunk BFK Rives
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Retired Barrow
Gum over Platinum on shrunk BFK Rives
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Methods and Techniques
The NEGATIVE is optimised and printed digitally on a transparent medium
that transmits UV light. It has to be the same size as the final print.
The PRINTING MEDIUM is selected for good wet strength and dimensional
stability. I have used either pre-shrunk, medium weight, 100% rag
paper or a synthetic, diaphanous Japanese paper, MASA, after mounting
it on a transparent support.
CYANOTYPE and GUM DICHROMATE are the two processes used. Cyanotype
emulsion is a mixture of Ferric Ammonium Citrate and Potassium Ferricyanide.
Gum Dichromate emulsion contains watercolor pigments suspended in
gum arabic to which an appropriate salt of chromium is added. The
ratio of the ingredients is adjusted to obtain the desired effects.
Both of the above emulsions are photosensitive.
The PROCESS
1. Papers coated with either emulsion are dried, then exposed to UV
light in close contact with the negative, using a vacuum easel.
2. The print is developed in chemicals specific to each process and
dried.
These two steps constitute one pass.
3. As and when required prints are sized with formalin-hardened gelatine
to prevent the pigment in subsequent passes from sinking into the
paper.
4. Steps 1 and 2 are repeated until the desired colours are obtained.
EXHIBITS
Participant in group shows, 1962-66, Ottawa, Ont.
One-person show at CBOFT studios, 1966, Ottawa, Ont.
One-person show at the National Centre for the Performing Arts, 1995,
Bombay, India
Work displayed at the Hambleton Galleries, 2002-03, Kelowna, B.C.
Changing exhibits presented at The Art Ark, since 2003, Kelowna, B.C.
(juried)
Participant at the Contemporary Pictorialism Exhibition of The New
Pictorialist Society, Spring 2004, Palo Alto, California (juried)
Publication: "Little Remains" Gum-over-Satista, Book cover
for PHOSPHORUS, poems by Heidi Garnett. Thistledown Press, 2006
One-person show, April 2008, The Art Ark, Kelowna, B.C.
Exhibition "Heavens, Water, Leaves"
March 2007 - Toned
Kallitype
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Heaven on Earth I
Kallitype - Pt Toner
on Somerset White
10 x 7 inches
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Society
Kallitype - Pt > Se Toner
on Arches Platine
10 x 8 inches
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Friendship
Kallitype - Pd > Au Toner
on Arches Platine
10 x 8 inches
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Solitude
Kallitype - Pd > Au Toner
on Arches Platine
10 x 8 inches
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Heaven on Earth II
Kallitype - Pt > Se Toner
on Arches Platine
10 x 8 inches
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Inner Scapes, Outer Scapes
Kallitype - Au Toner
on Arches Platine
10 x 8 inches
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The leaf doesn't know its roots.
Kallitype - Pd Toner
on Arches Platine
10 x 8 inches
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How beautifully they go to their graves.
Kallitype - Pd Toner
on Arches Platine
10 x 8 inches
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Autumn Rites
Kallitype - Pd Toner
on Somerset White
10 x 8 inches
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Window on darkness
Kallitype - Au Toner
on Arches Platine
10 x 8 inches
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THE KALLITYPE PROCESS
KALLITYPE is a SILVER-IRON process that leads to the creation
of hand-made prints that are unique and archivally stable.
The light-sensitive component in the emulsion is FERRIC OXALATE:
this salt permits darker shadows and allows for extensive contrast
control compared to iron salts used in other iron-silver processes.
The THEORY of the process was described in an 1842 paper by
Sir John Herschel; the process was PATENTED by W.W.J.Nicol in
1889.
METHOD:
A PAPER of desired characteristics is COATED with a mixture
of silver nitrate and ferric oxalate in reduced light and dried.
It is EXPOSED in CLOSE CONTACT with a digitallly-produced NEGATIVE
to UV LIGHT. The negative must be the same size as the finished
print.
Following exposure, the print is DEVELOPED, CLEARED, TONED,
FIXED and THOROUGHLY WASHED and DRIED.
TONING is done with salts of Platinum, Paladium, Gold and/or
Selenium . These metals replace the silver that gets deposited
after the exposure step. Besides converting a black and white
silver-based print to one with desired color effects, toning
also protects the print from environmental degradation.
Exhibition "Passages"
September 2006
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Corvid Fest SOLD
Kallitype - Pt and Au Toner
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Crossroads
Kallitype - Pt Toner
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Blake's Contraries
Kallitype - Pt Toner
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Crossing
Kallitype - Pd Toner
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Fibres of Being
Kallitype - Pd Toner
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Leaving Home
Kallitype - Pd Toner
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Passages
Kallitype - Au Toner
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Sandcastles
Kallitype - Pt Toner
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Venus
Kallitype - Au Toner
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Wisdom Above Riches
Kallitype - Pt Toner
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CATEGORIES OF WORK
1) SILVER-BASED BLACK & WHITE PHOTOMONTAGES:
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Master of my Fate
Se-toned silver gelatin print
9.5 x 12 inches
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Villa of my Dreams
Silver-based Black & White Photomontage
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2) ALTERNATIVE PHOTOGRAPHIC PROCESSES (non-silver):
CYANOTYPE
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Boats,
Dow Lake
Cyanotype
6 x 6 inches |
GUM BICHROMATE
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Forms
Gum Bichromate
12 x 9 inches |
PLATINUM PRINTS
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Shadow Play
Platinum Print
8 x 6 inches
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COMBINATION PRINTS
I have experimented with the following
combinations of processes described above:
Gum bichromate-Cyanotype
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Coccoon
Gum Bichromate - Cyanotype
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Gum bichromate over Platinum
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The Skeptic
Platinum - Gum Bichromate
10.2 x 7.5 inches
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Cyanotype over Platinum
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Chairs Sedona
Cyanotype/Platinum Print
9.2 x 7 inches
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Gum over Satista
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Our Sentences Needed Room to Unfold
Satista - Gum Bichromate
7 x 10 inches
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