The Search

The Search is an installation of prints, of different dimensions and sizes, arranged to suggest a collection of glass photographic ‘plates’. The mark-making and abstract qualities of the chemigram process were used to emulate visions of the night sky, distant galaxies and other impressions of the cosmos captured through scientific imaging. Graphic notations were layered onto the black and white photographic paper by silkscreen, in reference to the hand-written coda applied by scientists as they surveyed and mapped the Universe from the position of the south. The artwork may be seen as an act of heritage and archive activation, and as an art-science collaboration. It draws inspiration from the Stromlo Observatory photographic plates, an archive of early astrophotography and associated materials and records. The Stromlo Plates are a part of the Canberra region's cultural heritage of astronomy research and space exploration, and include the Southern Sky Survey. The work was invited as part of a group exhibition titled Connections: Part One, curated by Dr Erica Seccombe, held at Megalo Arts, ACT.