A long way out in the deep blue sea there lived a fish. Not just an ordinary fish, but the most beautiful fish in the entire ocean. His scales were every shade of blue and green and purple, with sparkling silver scales among them.

The other fish were amazed at his beauty. They called him Rainbow Fish. “Come on, Rainbow Fish,” they would call. “Come and play with us!” But the Rainbow Fish would just glide past, proud and silent, letting his scales shimmer.¹

From the Salmon of Knowledge in Celtic mythology to an earthquake causing catfish in Japanese folklore, the symbol of a fish being a vessel for information has been a connection through several different cultures. In a modern day setting, they are indicators of the health of our oceans, rivers and lakes, they illustrate capitalist economic greed and are subject to cosmetic makeovers for consumer consumption.

Fish scales in particular have several interesting qualities. In the same way you can tell a tree's age by counting its rings, a fish's growth can be understood by the collagen rings on their scales. As a result of this, fish scales can be used as biological indicators of heavy metal pollution in waterways. Copper and nickel ions are byproducts of toxic pollution from agricultural and industrial sites, contaminating water not only for fish but also for other animal and marine life, including humans².

"Small Scale, Big Scale" uses several techniques to turn this material into a photonegative, becoming both a lens and canvas for this invisible pollutant to be seen. In turn, the cyanotype process highlights the textured and raw quality of fish scales that would go unnoticed by the naked eye. The series of images follow a journey from the Banbury Reservoir, a reported place of heavy metal pollution, down the several waterways that make up the Lee Valley canals. This journey is not only emblematic of the fishes yearly migration cycle, but is also intended to highlight the far spreading impacts that water pollution has. For this process, the fishes scale has absorbed the cyanotype solution making it possible for permanent images to be cast onto it. Recent studies suggests this exact same quality of fish scales could help with the absorption of heavy metal out of polluted areas, providing a potential natural, non invasive solution to this man-made issue.