Tracy Longley-Cook: Paths of the Ecliptic

This exhibition explores invented, poetic spaces examining astronomical phenomena and the communicative nature of the heavens. Using a scanner as the lens, digital collages are constructed to suggest a fabricated reality exploring mysticism and creation through imagery related to the celestial, landscape, body, and mind. Taking inspiration from the classic zodiac and tales of the constellations, which some believe provide insight into a person’s history and future, an imaginary pictorial map is drawn. 

Analogous to how myths provided explanations to natural and perceived experiences, this work draws the viewer into a sphere of lore and invention to contemplate fictitious realities and histories. The common belief that photography is a truth-telling medium is subverted by combining imagery that is typically disconnected until the act of assemblage provides a newly formed narrative.