The night sky is ambiguous. It represents a blank canvas and surface on which individual desires, thoughts and feelings can be mapped and projected. Celestial phenomena such as stars, planets, and nebulae are imbued with special meaning or affection, becoming an intimate part of the individuals who gaze up at them.
Both cosmology and fiction share a quest for pattern and meaning. In both cases we could also say that it is the viewer/reader who as an active agent imparts existence to the work and completes its meaning through interpretation.
The piece is divided into three sections, Reading into the Stars which explores the deep psychological attachment between the astronomer and the night sky. The Social Imaginary which questions the idea of the astronomer as a solitary figure and finally The Strange which explores the poignancy and strangeness of some of these histories.