Sky glow analysis above my house in Clapton, 2020.
For this project I expanded my ongoing practice-based research into light and dark, creating a live research website which explores how our understanding of darkness, and its relation to safety, can be compiled from our social, cultural, geographical and historical experience. This work - Ground-truthing - examines what kind of knowledge these experiences produce, by experimenting with an adapted methodology for ‘ground-truthing’ during Covid-19, which combines data analysis, image processing, storytelling, archival practices and field studies. The research takes place under three operating questions. What role does light play in remembering and forgetting? What kind of politics can be drawn from a photon? What role does light, natural or artificial, play in different experiences of safety in urban space?
(In)security is a collaboration between academics from the Humanities, Engineering and Social Sciences at the University of Birmingham and artists. The project is led by Doctor Katharina Karcher and will culminate in the public presentation of artworks on the theme of (In)security which seeks to encourage critical conversations about counter-terrorism measures by exposing and challenging prevailing assumptions about what – if anything – can make us feel more secure in urban spaces.
The research culminated in an exhibition at Eastside Projects in 2021, alongside four commissioned artists, exploring what potential political demands can be made for physical space, social protection and data, that could help re-shape and reclaim hostile space.
