Leanne Bell Gonczarow

As part of the Reading Room at Broadway in February 2009, Leanne Bell Gonczarow presented 3 video and animation works. In Astronomy for Beginners light from the sun is trained through a magnifying glass onto the page of a book showing an illustration of the sun. A small fire is started on its surface and the page is turned.

Also presented was the digital Animation On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, 2007. In 1543, the Polish astronomer Nicolas Copernicus published the book On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, in which he positioned the sun at the centre of our solar system, contesting the belief systems of the time that put the earth at the centre, with the sun, moon, planets and stars all rotating around it. Bell requested to view the book in the Caird Library at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. When the book was brought out from storage it was encased in a box with conservation notes which detailed the history of its care. This book about the source of light on earth was positioned in the light of the library on a desk by a window. After one minute in the light, each page was turned and photographed in sequence.

In Broadway's Cafe  Bar, Hinterland also presented Bell's ongoing documentation and archive of light spots and cast shadows in her immediate environment (home, work, studio), in a piece entitled The Library of Light.

Leanne Bell Gonczarow is based in London and recently studied MA Book Arts, Distinction, Camberwell College of Arts, London. Recent projects include Future Map 07, Arts Gallery, University of the Arts, Davies Street, London;  LAB 07 (London Artists Book Fair), Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), London; Urbanbodies 2, Greenwich Picturehouse, London