In 2018 I made a small Ex Votive painting about Goonhilly Earth Station which was part of the 100 painted vows series. Today I was lucky enough to actually visit the site to hear about the amazing and very complex work they undertake, sending and receiving communications from outer space .

The huge antenna of these receivers can be seen for miles, and are a much loved part of the landscape for those living on the Lizard Peninsular, Cornwall. So it was, that on a misty October morning I found myself climbing up inside one of these structures , build like a ship, of thick sheet metal held together with massive bolts. Functional metal staircases took us up and up from one landing to another into a room space with more technology at its centre.

These wonderful sculptural forms when combined with the kind of technology you see on films, and the clever team, collect and distribute radio waves from space , which are transformed through a variety of techniques into readable and transferable data that is so valuable around the world , and goes to provide reference information for all our futures.

It really is another world, and I feel very lucky to have been able to visit this special place, to learn a little bit more about what they do and to have been made so welcome.