Easement, induction (pines)

A photographic registration of an electrical field made visible through induced light

This diptych was made beneath a line of pines growing next to high-voltage transmission lines at a electrical easement at Watson, Canberra. At this location, the surrounding electrical field is strong enough to illuminate a fluorescent tube held in my hand, despite the tube having no direct connection to a power source. The tube registers a condition present in the reserve but not possible to observe without the fluorescent tube.

The first photograph records the trees beneath an overcast sky at night; in the second, the illuminated tube appears within the same site as two bright vertical traces.

The grey-yellow atmosphere is produced by urban light reflected from low cloud. Recorded through long exposure, this light deepens the tonal density of the photographs and gives them an almost historical appearance, making the contemporary infrastructure of the tubes and surrounding electrical field difficult to place in time.

By recording both the atmospheric light above the reserve and the induced light of the fluorescent tube, the photographs make visible conditions produced between the transmission lines and the pines. The work considers how electrical infrastructure extends beyond its visible poles and wires, shaping the surrounding space even where no direct electrical connection is present.