Late last year I was included on a Rubin Observatory (Chile) grant as a co-investigator to research the feasibility of creating an artists residency at University of Canterbury Ōtehīwai Mt. John Observatory in Takapō, Aotearoa New Zealand. This project is in collaboration with planetary astronomer Dr Michele Bannister and Dark Sky Project and includes the development of resources to incorporate Māori astronomical science into a first-year undergraduate astronomy course.

After the Pale Blue Dot Collective residency in the Blue Mountains, Australia, we headed to the South Island of Aotearoa to start my research trip at the university and at Mount John Observatory. We stayed at the observatory for about a week and it was incredible. After not being sure if we would be able to get through on the roads, we arrived to find Takapō completely covered in snow. The observatory sits at 1029m above an electric blue glacial lake.

We had a real adventure exploring the observatory and landscape around it, located in the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve, the largest gold standard International Dark Sky Reserve in the world. Around every corner was a view more beautiful than the last. The constantly changing weather brought snow storms, strong winds and extensive and severe flooding across the South Island. At night time, the snow covered landscape gave way to some of the most beautiful skies I have ever seen.

For the past six months I have been interviewing artists about their experiences of observatory based residencies. If you would like to share any feedback you have - please send me a message and we can arrange a time to chat.