I have contributed a chapter to this incredible book, edited by Tim Edensor and Nick Dunn and published by Routledge on 27 November 2023. The process of writing my chapter came at just the right moment and helped me to unravel, refine, and understand my practice in new ways. My chapter, ‘The Transparency of Night’ is the fourth chapter, and the abstract is below:
"As light pollution increases around the world, humanity is losing a symbolic visual connection to the cosmos, shared by our ancestors throughout history. The author examines how living under the dark skies of Aotearoa, New Zealand, has influenced her artistic and curatorial practice and how her artwork can invite the audience to explore their own changing relationship with the night. Through the discussion of five artistic projects, this chapter explores how living under dark skies, or light-polluted skies, can change our perception of grief, the climate crisis, and Earth’s deep-time history and future. Each of the projects has started with a fundamental connection to the night sky and reflects the author’s changing understanding of life, death, darkness, and light.“
Download The transparency of night by Louise Beer.
Download Dark Skies/ Places, Practices, Communities.
Dark Skies addresses a significant gap in knowledge in relation to perspectives from the arts, humanities, and social sciences. In providing a new multi- and interdisciplinary field of inquiry, this book brings together engagements with dark skies from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds, empirical studies, and theoretical orientations.
Throughout history, the relationship with dark skies has generated a sense of wonder and awe, as well as providing the basis for important cultural meanings and spiritual beliefs. However, the connection to dark skies is now under threat due to the widespread growth of light pollution and the harmful impacts that this has upon humans, non-humans, and the planet we share. This book, therefore, examines the rich potential of dark skies and their relationships with place, communities, and practices to provide new insights and understandings on their importance for our world in an era of climate emergency and environmental degradation.
This book is intended for a wide audience. It will be of interest to scholars, students, and professionals in geography, design, astronomy, anthropology, ecology, history, and public policy, as well as anyone who has an interest in how we can protect the night sky for the benefit of us all and the future generations to follow.
The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.
Contributors:
Kerem Ali Asfuroglu, Dwayne Avery, Louise Beer, Therese Conway, Hannah Dalgleish, Élisabeth de Bézenac, Kimberly Dill, Nick Dunn, Tim Edensor, Rupert Griffiths, Ysanne Holt, Ellen Jeffrey, Therésa Jones, Neha Khetrapal, Yee-Man Lam, Marty Lockett, Marie Mahon, Natalie Marr, Georgia MacMillan, Helen McGhie, Dan Oakley, Nona Schulte-Romer, Taylor Stone.
