Helen McGhie, Anatomy of a Northern Astronomer and Dark Adaptation

NEPN commissioned photographic artist Helen McGhie to produce two new pieces of work for the Observe Experiment Archive programme and exhibition at Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens in 2019.

Helen investigates the experience of stargazing for northern astronomers in the darkness at Kielder Observatory, situated in remote  Northumberland, Europe’s largest International Dark Sky Park. Rather than focusing on producing new images of space in the tradition of organisations such as NASA, she captures personal encounters of the night-sky.

Anatomy of a Northern Astronomer is a collection of photographs showing the inspirations that some astronomers have for their outer-space passion and the objects needed for night-time observations.

Dark Adaptation is a performative landscape, exploring the process of an observer’s adjustment to night-time vision.

Also shown in Observe Experiment Archive, Wanderers, a series of portraits depicting the act of observing the sky at night, where stargazing becomes a performance of ‘looking up.’

www.helenmcghie.com

Images:

Details from Anatomy of a Northern Astronomer
Photographic prints on table, 2019

Dark Adaptation
Photographic print, 2019

Wanderers
Framed photographic prints, 2019