TEXT_Yan Lam
It is human nature to yearn for nature. Although we live in a hustling and bustling city, it does not hinder our desire and pursuit of nature. “Whispering with Plants—Cyanotype Workshop” is one of the activities of “Thematic Libraries” organised by the Macao Public Library under the Cultural Affairs Bureau. Readers can create their cyanotype prints of plants with their own hands by picking up the branches and leaves that fall on the ground from the trees in the garden of the Sir Robert Ho Tung Library, and read picture books about nature together, feeling the harmonious coexistence between human and nature through visual, auditory and tactile senses.
Debbie, the instructor of the Cyanotype Workshop, brought readers to the garden of the Sir Robert Ho Tung Library to observe the beauty of green plants and the withering of the plants with their branches and leaves falling off. Under the guidance of the instructor, participants made reusable bookmarks, postcards and eco-friendly bags with leaves as the creative elements through cyanotype and collage, so as to extend the beauty of withered plants into their daily items and hence get closer to nature. Debbie mentioned that “cyanotype”, as an ancient printing and dyeing technique, was an art inseparable from nature. Instead of the technical requirements, “cyanotype” focuses more on waiting. Plants dipped in the special liquid must be placed on paper or cloth under the sun for some time. This is the art jointly created by humans and nature. While waiting for the finished products, participants read picture books together, shared ideas and experienced the leisure brought by natural downshifting.
