Corin Sworn, winner of the 2013-15 Max Mara Art Prize for Women, and one of three artists chosen to represent Scotland at the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013 (alongside Duncan Campbell and Hayley Tompkins) presented new work along with the first showing of "The Rag Papers", a synchronised light, sound and film installation first presented at Chisenhale, London in 2013.

The exhibition followed a period of study by the artist at the RBGE Herbarium, during which Sworn’s interest in the properties of plants used in natural dyeing developed alongside an interest into the manipulation of the chromatic register of photographic images. A number of plant specimens selected from the Herbarium’s collection of almost 3 million dried plants were also displayed as part of the exhibition, representing some of the species used by Sworn in the dyeing process.

Using hand-dyeing techniques, Sworn produced lengths of coloured silk, using many of the plant species and varieties traditionally utilised for this purpose in the past.  Sourced by the artist, the plants used ranged from Scottish natives such as Golden Rod, Gorse and Woad, to Logwood from Central America, Indigo from the Arabian Peninsula and common food plants such as Cabbage and Onion.

In addition to The Rag Papers and the dyed silk panels the exhibition included a series of photographic colour prints of plants and flowers often used in dyeing. The photographs were manipulated digitally and their tonal ranges demonstrated the plant’s varying chromatic potential. 

The Rag Papers was co-commissioned by Chisenhale and Neuer Aachener Kunstverein (NAK), Germany.

With special thanks to Sam Belinfante, Elspeth Haston, Duncan Marquiss, Adele Smith and Oran Wishart.

The exhibition was generously supported by The Henry Moore Foundation and was part of Generation: 25 Years of Art in Scotland.

Installation views. Images courtesy of the artist and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.