No Need To Be Blue
Emma Dorn
No Need To Be Blue, 2026
Two Cyanotypes on Watercolour Paper, 18×24 inches each

No Need To Be Blue
Chosen are two images from my series No Need To Be Blue. As I grow up, I feel a sense of unease. As chapters come to a close one after another; close friends move away, university graduation near, the responsibilities of adulthood grow and I begin to mourn the life I once lived. Through what began as an exploration meant to represent an uneasiness about the future, instead a new appreciation was welcomed. I began to take note how those around me felt the same, all of us growing up together at once.
After beginning to work with a focus on this aforementioned uneasiness about the future, this time it was accompanied with the highlight that one is not alone with these feelings. Initial feelings of nervousness and isolation instead turned into a sense of comfort and catharsis. Similar to emotions spaces such as cemeteries bring, I realized I found some of these same emotions in the company of my friends.
I turned to wander cemeteries and graveyards where I saw angels at every turn, seeing my friends as these same figures in my day to day. Though not entirely focusing inside of a cemetery, angels are referenced from said cemeteries to represent new beginnings, a comforting figure to guide one forward.
No Need to Be Blue examines the unavoidable continuation of life as one cycle comes to an end. Pairing with the photographic process of cyanotype, observing the passage of time through a process that is known to take time and dedicated to observing changes. Cyanotype being a simple yet time consuming process, where moments of quiet occur as the prints are exposed to light and begin to take form. As the prints dry, I watch them evolve and change into the new images presented. Cyanotype working as a reminder on how though one cycle has ended, another can begin.
“Who says there isn’t angels among us?”