Conceptual nominee

Cosmologica documents a fictional space exploration mission using the 19th-century printing technique known as cyanotype. The series tells the story of an explorer’s journey across the cosmos using photographs of dust clouds and light. The artist behind this series has a passion for space, yet even with a day job in the space industry, he has been forced to come to terms with the reality that he will never fly in space. Cosmologica is his imaginary mission that contemplates our time and place in the universe.

The series centers on the universality of the cosmos as the explorer photographs deep space for the first time. The stellar nurseries, star clusters, and other phenomena depicted in this series may be reminiscent of the Hubble Space Telescope, but were re-contextualized images from our own world. These faux views from space serve as a visual embodiment of the idea that we are in fact living in a universe made of common constituent elements. At the same, these images from our world show a similar emptiness we see in actual images of space. The series reminds us that it is our storytelling that builds meaning out of virtually nothing but light and dust.

Dan Hendrickson is a fine arts photographer residing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His work uses the 19th-century printing method known as cyanotype to tell stories of futurism, spaceflight, and our place in a theorized multiverse. His use of cyanotype pays homage to the forebearers of the medium, who used it to capture photograms of flora or scenes of bridge building on the Mississippi River in the 1800s. It is because cyanotype has its historic roots in depicting earthy subjects that it now casts visions of the future in a captivating and believable light. It is this new narrative direction for the medium that is the starting place for his work.

Hendrickson is a self-taught photographer and cyanotype print maker whose day job is in the space industry, a subject that heavily influences his photography. Pieces from his latest series Cosmologica centering on a fictional space mission have been selected for exhibition by the Three Rivers Art Festival, and the Cultural Center of Cape Cod. His previous color photography has been featured by the Smithsonian Air and Space Magazine, the Verge, and Lui Magazine.