My work is born from a series of developing relationships and connections. Our home on the North East coast of Scotland is a refuge where my interest in seaweed grew from studying the Victorian art of seaweed pressing and daily walks along the tideline. The complex variety of colour, texture and form was a revelation that I feel compelled to explore. Environmental awareness is key, and in subverting the common perception of seaweed as a slimy, smelly tangle to be avoided, I’m aligning myself with not only those shore hunters of the past, but also the people currently looking to seaweed for solutions to climate change and the problems of sustainability.

Rather than thinking of pressed seaweed as the final product, more recently I have approached seaweed as a found object to be utilised in other media. Whether I’m making printed works on paper, or tentative forays into sculpture, my evolving practice is always based on engagement with the material. I spend a lot of time exploring the properties of individual seaweeds, learning how they behave when wet and dry, manipulating and experimenting as I collect, and observing changes over time. Wild materials are seasonal, and even in Scotland, suitable specimens are hard won. But they convey a vital and intimate connection to place and process.

Portia Knight is a New Zealander who has lived in the UK for many years. She studied Art History at University but has more recently maintained a practical art practice utilising seaweed that she forages ethically along the North East coast of Scotland. 

Portia’s nature printing explores themes of collecting and cataloguing, and questions what is precious. She looks to examples of Victorian seaweed herbaria for inspiration, but primarily responds to the found material itself, searching for the best method to capture the unique properties of each seaweed species in print. 

Portia has sold seaweed pressings in Aberdeen, Oxford and London, and her limited edition giclee prints and greeting cards are stocked across Scotland. In 2024 she was interviewed about her work by BBC Radio Scotland for their programme ‘Out of Doors’. She has just held her first solo exhibition and currently has work in the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition 2025.