#SKYPROJECT
On October 27, 2015, I began an experiment in durational practise. What would it mean to repeat one creative action, every single day, for 100 days?
Project Constraints
• One photograph of the sky every day for 100 days
• Camera angle: straight up
• No reference to the ground nor horizon
• No buildings, trees, nor wires
• Flying things allowed when they appear spontaneously.
The project evolved into a much longer practice of daily awareness for more than 1000 days.
Each photograph of the “one sky,” so incredibly variable yet steady, so diverse yet universal. The project touches on the buddhist notion of not one/not two — universal and unique, differentiated, and part of a boundless whole.
Our place under the sky is just like this, our eyes, bodies, hearts, our minds too. Not one, not two.
Project Phases
The first expression of this project was inspired by meditation, and became a meditation in itself: to find an open place to consider the sky above, every single day.
I posted the images to Instagram daily (@visual_creative), numbered, and tagged: #skyproject.
I presented the first one hundred days in a photo gallery on my website.
After 100 days, I was completely hooked. I committed to continuing daily for one year.
At one year, I committed to a total of 1000 days. After almost three years, on September 25, 2018, a 1000-day collection was complete.
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A second expression of the project is a preliminary animation of the photographs, shown through a portal. This test composition uses the first 2/3 of the photographs, sorted by colour, manually. The banner on this page is a partial preview.
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For the third phase of the project, on November 1, 2020, I wanted to drop back into the daily practice. I created a dedicated Instagram account @skyproject.ca and a new hashtag #skyproject2.
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In the fourth phase I selected a handful of photographs from the vast collection and began an exploration which yielded SKY MANDALAS. Sky photographs are mirrored 2 or 4 ways, creating kaleidoscopic artworks. The project constraints in the first three phases were about observing and recording the sky, without manipulating the photography. This phase is a major departure, harvesting from that long period of observation to express something new (poiesis).
I delight in the symmetry and chaos that shows up in these refractions; the ways they are sky-like, and the ways they are not.
Sky Mandala images are printed on silk, with a limited run for each pattern. They are available for sale.
