About the booklet:

‘From The Understory’ is a project based around Alice Boyd’s debut mini-album (or EP) of the same name. Created as part of her artist residency at the Eden Project, the music explores our evolutionary journey and interconnectedness with plant life through folk-inspired vocal harmonies, ambient electronics and atmospheric sounds made with plants in the Eden Project’s Rainforest Biome.

When creating the live show for ‘From The Understory’, Alice asked writer Natasha Kaeda if she’d respond to the music with a series of interludes between each song. Natasha came back with a beautiful collection of poems, which thoughtfully guide us through a tale of reconnection with the natural world.

The project evolved once more when artist Amy Pezzin came on board to turn the songs and poems into a booklet featuring Amy’s intricate illustrations and striking cyanotype prints. Amy exposed pressed plants, paper cut-outs, water and illustrations to create this series of images in response to the EP.

About the artists:

Alice Boyd is a singer-songwriter and sound artist exploring our relationship with the natural world. Her work often uses novel recording techniques to call our attention to the hidden and often unacknowledged sounds of our environment.
www.aliceboyd.info @aliceboydmusic

Natasha Kaeda is a playwright and screenwriter - working across theatre, TV and audio. Her work is often inspired by and in response to nature and the environment, and the epic landscapes of Mid-Wales where she lives.
@natashakaeda

Amy Pezzin’s practice utilises print, illustration and bookbinding techniques to challenge the false dichotomy of human and nature. Following a material approach to art-making, she merges human and non-human elements, as a reflection on the ecological experience.
www.petuni.art @__amypez

Printed by Earthbound Press, a specialist risograph printing studio and design consultancy based in North London. Riso printing is an eco-friendly stencil duplication process, giving a homemade DIY feel. Due to the nature of riso printing, there may be irregularities in the ink.

With thanks to Sound and Music’s New Voices programme, Eden Project, PRS Foundation’s Women Make Music grant and Arts Council England for their support.

Sustainability:

Cyanotype is an age-old photographic process that uses the sun to create strong, cyan-blue prints. It is an incredibly sustainable alternative to the photographic method, as the chemicals used are comparatively low in toxicity to other photographic practices.

The booklets are printed by Earthbound Press using a Risograph printer. This eco-friendly stencil duplication process gives the booklets a homemade DIY feel. Due to the nature of RISO printing, there may be irregularities in the ink.