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| Neils
Kjaegaards Lab, Otago University |
I was particularly fascinated with the notion that atoms change when you observe them and so I started distressing small round mirrors. I had varying degrees of success (i.e. lots of shattered glass) with printing and etching directly onto the glass however I did achieve surfaces that change when you look at them. Thanks to my friend Julie Whitefield who taught me the glass etching and made the stencils.
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| Pendant/Lens trials. 30mm |
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| etching mirror glass |
A challenge of the project for me was using imagery that was theoretical and not something I was initially aesthetically attracted to. After some time I found my voice and added in things that were optical grids to me, such as a crochet doily pattern. I had a frenzy of over printing and layering some prints towards a point of visual confusion to communicate my difficulty in learning about the quantum world. Discs were then cut from the
prints and embedded in a bezel with a mirror and a layer of clear resin.
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| layered prints |
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| Sample of prints before being overlaid with a mirror and resin |
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| detail of pendants - 120 made in total |
Petra found the project valuable in having to explain her research to a different audience
so they could understand it as she is used to communicating with people having
a similar or higher level of physics training as she does.
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| Installation |
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Child and pendant installation. Thanks to Craig Scott from
Otago Museum who added a large mirror backdrop. |
The
pendants are available for purchase as I like the idea that people wear the
pendants, the art is then mobile, a bit like the probability of places where an
atom could be – it is in all places, it is here, it is there.
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Atoms are coherent, here too they shine a bit
of reflected light on each other. |
