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LOUISA CHASE
Artist
Woad, Isatis tinctoria has been grown in Europe for at least 10,000 years. It is an ancient dyer’s plant, native to the Middle East and Turkey, yielding a blue pigment that by Medieval times was in use across Europe. As the only light-fast blue available it was used in such diverse contexts as the Bayeux Tapestry, illuminated manuscripts, as a body paint, a textile dye for uniforms, and now in contemporary contexts for home furnishings, textile art and clothing.

Woad Ball
Woad grown and processed using traditional techniques by Ian Howard in Norfolk, UK.

Tydd St Mary, Lincolnshire
Histories of the land recorded in road names.

In Search of Isatica
Text and images published in the online journal of The Dark Mountain Project, 5th October 2022

Woad plants
Liquorice Park, Lincoln, UK.

Beneath
Woad in gum arabic on Fabriano paper
40 x 135 cm
40 x 135 cm

Fleeting I
Photographic image:
Woad on Fabriano paper with body shadow
Woad on Fabriano paper with body shadow

Reconceived Corporeality
Photographic image: Woad on Fabriano paper with body shadow

Oceanic Agency
Photographic image.
Woad on Fabriano paper, washed by ocean waves, with found shell.
Woad on Fabriano paper, washed by ocean waves, with found shell.

Fluidity
Woad in gum arabic on Two Rivers paper
44 x 54 cm
44 x 54 cm
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