A once major transport hub of Great Britain, a contaminated sludge from London to Birmingham snakes through the land. Stretching 137 miles, the Grand Union Canal carried coal, iron, lime juice, bricks and aggregates to fuel industry and livelihoods. Although no longer used for commercial transportation, walkers, cyclists, and pleasure boats have made the canal busier than ever. However, remnants of the mirky past still lie in and around the canal, on its banks, and in the industry that collapsed and sprang up because of it, with the waters still heavily polluted.

Contaminated Resurgence looks at the contamination of the Grand Union Canal through cyanotype-making as a journey timeline inspired by the artist John Walker, depicting how nature along the canal is still affected and intertwined with its history.

Every mile, for five miles, between Hunton Bridge and Apsley, I took a digital photograph and a vegetation sample, acting as pairs to create a positive and negative cyanotype with five layers to each cyanotype.

• The paper used is sixteen years old and was purchased from the oldest mechanical paper mill in the country, situated on the canal.
• The text consists of retyped newspaper articles and shipping logs from when the canal was used.
• The water was collected from each location and sprayed on the prints to aid development.
• The goods, charcoal, rust, ash, and lime juice that were once carried along the canal are sprayed and sprinkled on just before UV exposure. The goods affected the paper in unique and uncontrollable ways.
• The depictions are from the digital negative or vegetation sample. In the final layer, the depictions are degraded to indicate the contaminants' ongoing impact on the canal. Contaminated Resurgence uses cyanotypes to show the intertwined history of the water, pollution, goods, and nature of the Grand Union Canal, resulting in unpredictable image outcomes.

*Through the gentle flow of the waterway, The smell of smoke filled the day, Black gold brought from the north, To keep the country moving forth,

Coal and water intertwined, A workers once daily grind, Now breathing life into the old, A nature’s paradise to behold.*