Communication Design School of Design
Alia Mobarik
I am a Scottish born Communication Design graduate from the Glasgow School of Art specialising in Lens-Based design. I enjoy producing art that creates wonderment and a magical sense of the world. My work draws influence from my interest in astronomy and past studies in Geology and Environmental Studies where I obtained a BSc (Hons) and MEnvS, respectively. I focus on environmental issues such as sustainability and light pollution while instilling a feeling of hope. I observe what connects and unites us as human beings. My creative process involves the exploration of analogue mediums such as film photography, phonotropes and cyanotypes. I then combine these traditional techniques with digital ones to create more unique pieces of work.
Ecstatic Motion
This project evolved from the initial springboard of my
autistic cousin’s love of spinning objects.
Ecstatic Motion captures a sense of the sublime
and how there are forces and energies beyond our
comprehension. We are so small and insignificant in the
grand scheme of things yet we are all interconnected
and we are all spinning together constantly. Even when
we think we are still, we are spinning on the Earth at over
one thousand miles per hour.
The human spirit is enduring. Even when a person feels
trapped or in an intense and difficult situation, their spirit
can never be chained or crushed. The human spirit is
constantly in motion and evolving.
Bridge to the Stars
This is part one of what will be a long term project
documenting the Sutherland Spaceport and its
relationship with the local community of Melness. I plan
to make observations of how this relationship will change
over time as the spaceport is constructed and becomes
operational. I will also be studying the anthropogenic
effects of the surrounding environment as time evolves.
I have started by contacting and photographing some
of the main protagonists from the Melness Crofters’
Estate and have gradually been building relationships
with the local community. I hope that this project will be a
collaborative one and that it will serve as a record for the
Melness community and future generations to come.
Constellations
By the time a child (born today) reaches adulthood half of the stars that are visible in the night sky today will have disappeared. We are losing our connection to the natural night sky in all its glory. We have new human made constellations forming in our skies in the form of cubed shaped satellites that are slightly bigger than a Rubik’s cube.
On one hand these CubeSats (as they are known) can help us to monitor our environment, animal migration, aid in farming practices and help tackle climate change. On the other hand the addition of thousands of CubeSats and megaconstellations such as Starlink are reducing our visibility of the night sky, creating debris in our lower earth orbit and when they burn up in our atmosphere we are only just discovering that these satellites are adding plastics and chemicals to our oceans.
