This apparent magnitude

Abstract

This support paper expands on ideas, research, and observations that have driven the production of my MFA Thesis Exhibition, This Apparent Magnitude. The exhibition consists of four new projects that represent the culmination of two years of research, travel, and creation, all centred around critical approaches to the depiction of physical environments. The title takes its name from the theory of apparent magnitude, credited to ancient Greek astronomer Hipparchus in the 2nd century BCE. Apparent magnitude was used to measure the brightness of celestial objects, and has evolved over the past two millennia to become a much more complex and integrated part of modern astrophysics. I am proposing that apparent magnitude can be thought of as a metaphor for the ways casual observations and depictions become embedded in culture and ideology – specifically in the context of how we represent physical environments.