Where the Sky Widens pods in the dark

One of the questions I got asked a lot during the Where the Sky Widens workshops was “why did you choose to make them out of that material?”. That material being white cartridge paper.

This is the reason why:

glowing pods

Back in 2012 when I started doing the early work for what was later to become this project, the image in my mind’s eye – the one that compelled me to make these things happen in order to find out what it would be like – was of a group of people walking at a meditative pace around a public space at dusk. Each person would be carrying a pod and, against the blues and pinks and reds of the day’s end, these would also be adding their own gentle light.

Well, we didn’t nail the sunset, but at the end of the workshop at Lancaster University we did find ourselves in a black-out installation space with our completed pods. There was an examination taking place in the room next door, so this was all in silence: pods being regarded, carried, placed, held, offered and gathered together.

Jonathan Kemp took the following photos, capturing something of the experience:

glowing pod

glowing pod

glowing pods

glowing pod

glowing pod

glowing pods