uranography (i-vi), 2020
6 hand cut collages with AR video activations and accompanying downloadable zine
The night sky has long been a source of inspiration and imagination throughout human history. Absent of physical material, outer space begs to be filled with mythological narratives, speculative fiction and scientific information. The body of work uranography proposes an alternative theory for the development of the observable cosmos based on understanding the night sky through touch. This series of poetic assemblages considers our bodily relationship to galactic bodies of unfathomable scales at incomprehensible distances, through a series of collages and accompanying zine with AR activations. Combining newly imagined and pre-existing stars, galaxies and constellations to create a new arrangement of the cosmos that quietly comes to life through movement and interaction. Using print, found footage and drawing, the impossible relationship of physically touching the incomprehensibly large, intangible celestial bodies that lie beyond human knowledge is connected to a handheld, knowable scale.
Animating a new proposition for the ordering of stars in the night sky, these works draw upon the history of astronomy, celestial cartography and cosmological representations of the cosmos. The colleges and augmented reality videos draw attention to the myths represented by feminine characters, and the violence they are often victim to in mythology.
Using a smartphone as a window within which to activate the work, the AR video works are triggered by pointing the tablets at the works on paper, showing video, animation and digital images on top of/melded with the physical works. There would also have been a free zine, which is now available as a downloadable version, which can be printed out at the viewer’s home, or saved to an ebook/tablet.