Night Wanderers (2009 - 2017)

is a series of photographs envisioning the constellations and the cosmos. I photographed objects and nineteenth-century photographs frozen in or placed under disks of ice to create swirls of stars, galaxies and spiral nebulae. I partially thawed the ice to make transparent and translucent areas, then photographed quickly. While I chose objects and photographs that recall earlier times to remind us that star light is old light, the ice that encases them speaks to the elegance and fragility of our place in the universe. 

I have been influenced by the collage and assemblage art of the American artist Joseph Cornell. In the course of writing a book on the artist, Joseph Cornell and Astronomy: A Case for the Stars (Princeton University Press, 2009), I became aware of his deep and abiding interest in astronomy. His working method of juxtaposing objects in often unexpected ways.encouraged me to take risks, to experiment, and to be willing to destroy one object to create another. He also taught me to appreciate the stars.