Startrails by Bettina Forget — Startrails - Heartbeat, Perseids #3

Startrails - Heartbeat, by Bettina Forget — Merveilles célestes exhibition at the Centre d'exposition de l'Université de Montréal

Merveilles célestes exhibition at the Centre d'exposition de l'Université de Montréal

Startrails – Heartbeat

This series of photograph was taken during my art residency at the Mont-Mégantic Observatory in Quebec, Canada.
On the occasion of the 2018 Perseid meteor shower, I lay on the ground near the Observatory's dome, holding my manual film camera in my hand. I opened the camera's shutter and held it open, keeping it as still as possible. The lines and cloudy whisps in the images are the result of the stars as they trace their path across the sky, as well as the micromovements of my hand, influenced by my breathing and my beating heart.
The Startrails - Heartbeat series weaves a connection between our Milky Way and the human existence.