An unseen beauty in nature, Membiru:
A collaboration of Argital and Sunprint
by Balqis Tajalli
Argital brings you to the world of Cyanotype, a photographic printing process that produces blue prints using coated paper and light. It is an old tradition of technique printing by using natural resources such as our environment to produce beautiful art with our local Malaya artist.
Meet the person who’s behind this Cyanotype.
Balqis Tajalli is a full time artist and designer at Sunprint Studio, based in Langkawi. Balqis is an experimental person who embraces photography and printing aside from working with Cyanotype, an old century printing technique, in which she named it Sunprint.
“This ritual of observing enables me to have a meaningful connection with nature and makes a good story to share with my students.”
According to Balqis, Cyanotype brings her outdoors, chasing the sun and exploring nature such as interesting plants or organic matter. The outcome of cyanotype is also influenced by the seasons and weather conditions. So she took an initiative by learning and observing the landscape, the ground and the sky such as clouds formation, length of shadows, humidity and other environmental conditions that affect the sunprint process.
What’s the meaning of this collaboration?
The collaboration between Argital and Sunprint by Balqis Tajalli is motivated by shared values and creating a visual story that enhances the cultural identity of both brands. In this collaboration, Argital and Balqis Tajalli aim to showcase the elements of Argital and Sunprint—Sun, Sea, and Earth—through creative and immersive ways.
Let’s explore the world of Cyanotype with the artist and the master behind Cyanotype, Balqis Tajalli in this Q&A.
How does Argital relate with Sunprint?
The key elements that make up the process and ingredients of Argital’s organic products are sun, sea (water) and earth. Interestingly, Sunprint art has the same process of using these elements though it’s for different purposes.
“I love that Argital as a brand, takes advantage of the blessings in nature to nurture both healthy mind and skin with natural ingredients.”
Tell us about the art.
“The piece of art above is called “Batik in Blue: Membiru”. It portrays a botanical arrangement symbolizing the colors and life force’s awakened at dawn.”
“The composition, if you noticed, is inspired by the beautiful motif found in kain sarong, which is a traditional Malay batik cloth worn often around the waist.”
Any takeaway message from this collaboration?
“It is a wonderful experience to have a brand that trusts in the artist’s creativity to bring a feeling to life or embody a message of a brand. There are a million ways to produce art, especially in an era of machine learning and AI that are changing how art can be produced.”
“Yet, I’m confident that it still takes a human hand, a soul and spirit to create meaningful work when it comes to art. So does a company like Argital, that respects the natural rhythm of nature and values the human spirit.”
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