As I began creating my jewelry and researching the history of cyanotype, I discovered a remarkable woman who many people may not be familiar with, Anna Atkins. The visual (ocean algae/seaweed) aspect of my pieces are inspired by Atkins, considered to be the first person to publish a book of photography. Her story is unusual. Born in 1799, Anna had the misfortune of losing her mother shortly after her birth. Her father, John George Children, a renowned scientist, educated Anna in the sciences, which was unheard of at the time. Anna used her artistic talent and rare education to illustrate her father’s scientific papers.

Anna married, had no children, and pursued her interest in botany by collecting plants, including 1500 seaweed and algae samples that she dried, labeled with their Latin names and placed in a herbarium.

Meanwhile, Sir John Hershel, an astronomer and chemist, and a friend of Anna’s father, invented cyanotype in order to duplicate his notes.

Within a year, Atkins learned the cyanotype process and, realizing that her collection of 1500 seaweed/algae samples would be left unexamined, she applied the new photography method and “photographed” several of her samples. In 1843, Atkins published Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions, thought to be the first book illustrated with photographic images.