REBECCA CUMMINS

Where is Midnight, 2021-2023

12x40” Digital prints (2)

Where is Midnight? (2021-23) was initially documented on the summer solstice in 2021 during an Ars Bioartica residency at the Kilpisjärvi Biological Station in far NW Finnish Lapland. During the summer there, the sun does not set for 72 days. From the summit of Saana Fell above Kilpisjärvi, I enlisted myself as the gnomon (an object whose shadow serves as a time indicator on a sundial) and recorded my shadow by drone at both solar midnight and solar noon.

At solar midnight (1:44am) the sun appears low in the sky and north, my shadow is long and to the south. At 1:44pm solar noon the sun is high in the south, my shadow short and to the north. This juxtaposition of the two images invites consideration of how the Earth’s movements affect light occurrences specific to the time of day, time of year and to geographic location. 

Support for this work was received from the Kreielsheimer Grant for Research Excellence, Division of Arts, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Washington and Ars Bioartica, Bioart Society, Kilpisjärvi Biological Station of the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland.