Sara Rawlinson

Pop-Up Exhibition - Illuminating Cambridge Libraries

Mon 11 February 2019 - Sun 17 February 2019

The Heong Gallery

Honouring features that enable the dissemination and preservation of knowledge, photographer Sara Rawlinson captures the aesthetic environment in which books and documents are displayed and preserved. She showcases the tangible materials, genuine textures, and ephemeral light that all work together to create the contemplative spaces in which knowledge circulates and thrives. The ‘Illuminating Cambridge Libraries’ series aims to photograph one library from each of the 31 Colleges of the University of Cambridge. This exhibition shows images from 25 Colleges.

The exhibition will also feature several historic lecterns designed in the late 17th century by Christopher Wren, on loan from (and with thanks to) the Wren Library at Trinity College. The Private View will include readings by Cambridge-based poet Michael Brown of poetry that he wrote within the library at Pembroke College. The poetry and the lecterns are both designed to further the experience as the viewer enjoys, ponders, meditates on the fabric of libraries.

Rawlinson grew up in her grandma’s darkroom in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After a short stint in academic science, she now runs a full-time ne art photography studio from her home in Cambridge, UK. The complete ‘Illuminating Cambridge Libraries’ series thus far includes nearly 1500 photographs from 25 libraries. Her other concurrent ne art photography series is a visual meditation on searching for serenity within the hidden delights of King’s College Chapel. She recently had three images shortlisted for Historic Photographer of the Year 2018.

Cost: Free