A large-scale physically manipulated print of RAW JWST telescope data. The publicly released, composited science image released of this data wasdubbed the ‘Cosmic Cliffs’ :  the edge of a nearby, young, star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula. The sculpture reverses the given orientation, and sculpted into a form that is evocative of both waterfall and cliff – questioning the earthly analogs invoked for relating to immense deep-space objects.

The data has been kept as close as possible to its RAW state, with minimal processing.This evolving sculptural work proposes a mixing of earth, water and night as an alternative model for understanding the universe that holds the poetic and alchemical in contrast to the objective and scientific. The print’s scale work towards the idea of ‘intimate immensity’: the image is reworked into an ‘affective space’ that affords an imaginative and bodily engagement with the viewer.

Continuing research into RAW data and the relationship to telescope instrumentation, Hill scoured the first release of James Webb space telescope data released to the STSCI archive in mid-late 2022, encountering engineering and calibration data as well as artefacts such as Webb’s unique 8-diffraction spike stars, a product of the 18 hexagonal segment primary mirror and secondary mirror supports.