Anthronauts is series of three works Trilobite, Songbird and Hawk, commissioned for Picturing Childhood: A new perspective at Chatsworth. The Anthronauts invite us to see in a non-human way. They are partly inspired by TH White's 1938 book 'The Sword in the Stone' in which the Wart is educated by Merlin by transformation into different creatures. The series title adds the suffix ‘naut’ or journey to ‘Anthropos’ or human. The works suggest a journey to the edge of what it means to be human by imagining other sense perceptions.
Trilobite, installed by the Circle Pond is at its simplest an invitation to imagine how creatures alive 530Ma ago would have looked on the world. The corten steel sculpture is pierced with 120 lenses that echo how a trilobite viewed its surroundings.
Human vision has an angle of view of 190°; with Songbird we can begin to imagine how their 300° view would be, looking down from an arrestingly beautiful storm-damaged cedar tree.
Hawk is installed on the balcony of the Painted Hall; it imagines how a hawk perched on the balcony might see.