Being, Human Being: UFO Photography

Curated by Mark Feary 

For the second iteration of the city-wide photographic festival Photo 2022, Gertrude presented Being, Human Being: UFO Photography, an exhibition that responded to and extended out of the festival’s artistic theme, Being Human. Purported encounters with UFOs have long relied upon the medium of photography to offer evidence of phenomena suggesting the potential of life beyond our planet, sitting as it does within a vast and expanding universe. This project drew upon images and film submitted to and investigated by the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), a network formed in 1969 in the USA that has expanded globally since.

The organisation, comprising individuals ranging from ex-military advisors, scientists and astrological enthusiasts, investigates UFO sightings to create an expanding record of unexplainable aerial phenomena from across the globe. The images and footage presented in Being, Human Being draw on research of encounters across Australia and New Zealand. Through investigative methodologies that involve interviews with witnesses, and image authentication, taking into account meteorological phenomena, aeronautical activity and known military movements, the images and video recordings presented in this project have been defined by MUFON investigators as unidentifiable and of unknown origin.

Being, Human Being provided an open forum, drawing on and consolidating unique encounters from a number of different sources across the region to consider the potential of life beyond our understanding. Presented in a manner more akin to a laboratory than an art exhibition, the project was a space of curiosity and discovery, and a platform for open-ended discussion and the sharing of experiences that expand our understanding of human existence.

The documentation of UFO encounters investigated by MUFON presented in the exhibition were additionally connected to the realm of contemporary art through the inclusion of a number of works contributed by artists and long-time UFO enthusiasts, Ronnie van Hout and Sean Peoples.

Download the exhibition roomsheet here.