Sharon Harper

Sharon Harper thinks of her photographic practice as a documentation of the planets and stars in a way that the human eye does not usually perceive them. Photographing mostly at night, Harper uses extremely long exposures in order to capture cosmic motions on a single sheet of film, sometimes overlaying multiple images in a single frame. In many of her works, this resulting composite image is both representational and abstract, as in her series “Moon Studies and Star Scratches” (2003-09) in which the star trails and multiple moons form patterns beyond recognition. The element of chance plays a significant role in Harper’s practice, and she welcomes environmental interruptions, light pollution, or accidents as part of her photographs. She has said that she draws inspiration from 19th-century photographers, particularly Eadweard Muybridge.