Abelardo Morell Eclipses on Wood. Newton, Massachusetts, USA. August 21, 2017.
"For a very long time, my work has dealt with the investigation of how light is shaped by optical instruments. This picture, which I
(...) made during the solar eclipse of the summer of 2017, uses the most rudimentary form of optics: A small hole letting light into a dark interior will yield images of things happening outside. To make this picture, I drilled several small holes in a thin metal sheet. In this case, the event of the eclipse is what is projected through these openings onto a piece of wood inside a dark tent. There are as many eclipses as holes. As early as 300 B.C., Aristotle wrote about this phenomenon. From Problemata, 15.11: 'Why is it that during eclipses of the sun, if one views them through a sieve or a leaf–for example, that of a plane-tree or any other broad-leaved tree–or through the two hands with the fingers interlaced, the rays are crescent shaped in the direction of the earth?"
- Abelardo Morell
Copyright © Abelardo Morell; Courtesy Edwynn Houk Gallery © Abelardo Morell | Magnum Photos
