BIO
Helen McGhie (b. Honiton, 1987) is a photographic artist and researcher based in Greater Manchester. Through the still and moving image, her practice reimagines ubiquitous photography through new perspectives, engaged with place and encounter. She is currently working on a practice-based PhD exploring photography and astronomy at the University of Sunderland (supported by the National Productivity Investment Fund, AHRC), in partnership with Kielder Observatory, Northumberland. McGhie is Lecturer in Photography at the University of Sunderland.
She has exhibited widely, including in Exploring Skyscapes (Nottingham Contemporary, 2020) and Observe, Experiment, Archive (Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens, 2019-20). Her work has been published in Monthly Photography magazine (South Korea, 2020), Photomonitor (2020, 2019) and Madam and Eve: Women Portraying Women (Laurence King publishing, 2018). Her awards include The Moth House Mentoring Award (2021) and Format Festival’s International Portfolio Reviewers’ Choice Award (2018).
ABOUT THE ART
Dark Matter connects the dark skies at Dalby Forest with the other-worldly, where photographs visualise an immersive astronomy practice in a Dark Sky Discovery site. Situated where walking trails connect, this is a constellation of images to be observed by passing audiences. Focusing on the intangible experience of darkness, three portraits (titled ‘Wanderers’) visualise an astronomer’s encounter with dark skies. A large landscape presents a red, rocky ground at night, illuminated by the dim light an astronomer uses to observe their close surroundings under dark-adapted vision. Finally, a telescope plate depicts a circular star map drilled with many holes, a tool previously used for surveying the night’s sky as part of the Sloane Digital Sky Survey, 2000-. This work has been created in partnership with Kielder Observatory, Northumberland.