Our Home in Space: Our Shared Night Sky

Event description

Our Shared Night Sky invites you to experience Sunderland in a new light. Through eight extraordinary photographs by Sunderland-born astrophotographer Dan Monk, familiar landmarks including Roker Lighthouse, Penshaw Monument, St Peter’s Church and the River Wear are transformed. Beneath star-filled skies, the planets, galaxies and constellations waiting above us are revealed.

Alongside photography, memories of the night sky shared by Sunderland residents are brought to life through writing, recorded voices and a newly commissioned soundscape by Bert Verso. Blending local voices with sounds gathered from across the city and music inspired by the heavens, the soundscape explores the relationship between the deeply personal and the universal. In this exhibition, memories, emotions and moments that belong to individuals connect all of us, through one shared sky.

Created in collaboration with Kielder Observatory, Our Shared Night Sky celebrates the enduring connection between Sunderland and one of the UK’s leading public observatories. Together, the photographs, stories and sound invite us to notice the extraordinary within the familiar, reminding us that wonder isn’t found only in distant galaxies, but also in the places we know best.

Whether you spend a few quiet minutes or choose to linger longer, this exhibition offers an opportunity to pause, look up, and reflect on our place within something impossibly vast and ever-changing. Above us stretches one sky: full of light, ancient – and shared by us all.

About Kielder Observatory

Kielder Observatory has deep roots in Sunderland. Before the observatory opened in 2008, members of the Sunderland Astronomical Society helped establish the Kielder Star Camps, bringing people together beneath Northumberland’s exceptionally dark skies.

The observatory’s founder and first director, Gary Fildes, grew up in Sunderland before turning a lifelong fascination with astronomy into what has become one of the UK’s leading public observatories. Sunderland-born astrophotographer Dan Monk, whose photographs feature throughout this exhibition, became the charity’s first employee and is now its Director of Astrophotography.

Today, Kielder Observatory welcomes visitors from across the North East to explore the night sky from within the Northumberland International Dark Sky Park, one of the largest protected dark sky areas in Europe. Alongside events at the observatory, the charity delivers workshops, planetarium experiences, talks and community programmes across the region, making astronomy accessible and inspiring for people of all ages.

From Sunderland to Kielder and back again, a shared curiosity about the night sky continues to connect people, places and stories across the North East.

Credits:

• Photography: Dan Monk
• Sound Design: Bert Verso
• Curation and Artwork: Posy Jowett

With gratitude to:

Michael Daglish; Bert Verso; Dan Monk; Heather Woodfine; Sharon Race; Kielder Observatory; Michaela Wetherell; Harry Bailey; Johannah Churchill; Gemma Ashby and members of Sunderland Symphony Orchestra.

With thanks to the Sunderland residents who contributed their written stories and spoken memories to the Sunderland Starlight project: Nadine Cockburn, Simon Duncan, Fred Gallagher, George Hutchinson, Julie Johnson, Vicky Mitchell, Oyin Olaifa, Siobhán O’Neill, Sue Potts, Lisa Prince, J.H. Sharratt, G. Stephenson and Anthony Swalwell.

Image credit: Planet House, Mars, and Jupiter, Dan Monk (2024). Courtesy of the Artist.