Perfectly Imperfect: A Life in Polaroid by Sian Cann

The title of Sian’s talk hardly prepared us for what was an absolutely fascinating evening into her use of Polaroid film and how she turns it into the most amazing artwork. Sian is a supreme artist, now internationally recognised, and a very engaging speaker and she led us through her life as a National Trust Warden on Lundy Island through the medium of the polaroid pictures she took. These express to her the beauty and fragility of nature which have now been translated into beautiful artwork – more of that later. The pictures of the very eclectic wildlife on Lundy such as highland cattle, Sika deer, Lundy ponies all of course the birdlife including the rare and unique Manx Sheerwater and the iconic Puffin show what a unique and precious place Lundy Island is.

She left Lundy after a four year stint and settled down in Somerset with her husband where life took an unexpected turn. She was diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy which means that she now has limited vision despite treatments and operations. This has not stopped her, not even slowed her down, and she continues to take Polaroids of local scenery with her two much loved clunky cameras. Sian then demonstrated the art of emulsion lifting with a polaroid she had taken that morning. How many of us even knew this was possible but it was completely absorbing watching her lift the emulsion, ie picture, off the polaroid and place it onto a piece of watercolour paper producing a unique piece of artwork.

The evening was completely absorbing and thoroughly enjoyable and encouraged us to experiment with our own photography – anything is possible!