Totality by Katie Paterson | Sheffield Millennium Gallery 2019
Totality is described by the gallery in the following words: “To create Totality Katie Paterson has collected the images of every solar eclipse documented by humankind. The images span drawings dating from hundreds of years ago, 19th century photography and to the most advanced telescopic technologies of the 21st century. From partial eclipse to total eclipse over 10,000 images reflect the progression of a solar eclipse across the exhibition space, mirroring the sequence of the sun eclipsed by the moon. Totality encourages us to consider the enormity of time and our relationship to it.”
From a photographic perspective there were a few challenges in shooting these images. I was able to get these photographs only by taking breaks from the room between shots. The central reflective globe was spinning and it was lit only by two high powered spotlights. Most difficult were the close up shots where I tried to capture some of the detail in the thousands of images used to create the reflections. I enjoyed the challenges and like how these images turned out…
…As an art installation encouraging the audience to reflect and ask questions about ‘time’, the theme of the whole exhibition, I’m not sure it worked for me. The opposing double spotlights created a great deal of reflective movement in lots of directions. Remaining in the darkened space for too long made me feel very disoriented and giddy and quite a few other visitors shared the same unsettling effects. This limited how people were able to engage with the artwork. I think many missed the detail of the thousands of reflective images that made up the surface of the spinning globe. Children on the other hand appeared to enjoy the experience and had fun while their parents took photographs of them playing.
Totality is part of ‘The Time is Now’ exhibition running at the Millennium Gallery in Sheffield from 5 October 2019 – 19 January 2020
Postcard Cafe 
From seeing it can understand hard to photograph!
Glad you’ve seen it 🙂 How did you cope with it’s disorienting effects or were you immune?
Immune response perhaps distracted because some kids got told off whilst I was there did trying to touch. Least it was not me getting told off… been told off once already this year in an art gallery.
Very striking images – wonderful! A 🙂
Thank you for your generous comments. These were shot in B&W and I may publish a few that I also shot in colour.
Have a great week
Best wishes
Mr C 🙂