Beth
Dow

The Dynamic Range

The Dynamic Range is an investigation into knowledge, vision, and wonder told through photographic representations of space. The source images for this project were shot in the Badlands of South Dakota, where the terrain has eroded in stark ways that suggest the topography of the moon. I have used simple digital interventions to render landscapes that straddle between earth and space, raising questions about what we know and what we can believe.
I have been looking at the various ways we gather and process images of distant surfaces, from official space agency images to the fascinating work of amateur astronomers. I am especially interested in the slippery nature of representation as we struggle to establish documents that purport to be true scientific records.