Marianne Bjørnmyr

Your Penumbra

On September 30th 1880 the young amateur astronomer Henry Draper was the first to photograph the Orion Nebula after spending decades refining his photographic technique and his self built telescopes. Undoubtedly an achievement that would change history, eminent scientists and astronomers during the time still maintained that photography would never replace the human eye as a tool to study the stars.

The work Your Penumbra (2015-2017) is communicating an inverted contemporary astronomic aspect: a claustrophobic impossibility of ever being able to see the recorded objects with the naked eye. The work displays a constellation of images where sprinkles of start dust have been exposed on photographic paper, presenting us with a starry sky, hints of foggy nebulas and empty space, leaving traces of their physical existence. Together with geometrical sculptural objects and a 16mm video, the involved elements are together and in their own way examining the fascinating and misleading specifics of the photograph.

Your Penumbra was completed through the FATHOM Residency, London in 2015, and funded by the Arts Council England and the Arts Council Norway.


















Design: Marianne Bjørnmyr - CMS: Publishpack - Utvikling: Moonrocket