First in the sequence are two hands reaching out to catch a bird. As night approaches, the hands let the bird fly away and one reaches up with interest towards the first bright star. Gathering darkness then brings gestures of fear and worry. The night sky continues to press down, crushing the hand, until eventually day melts into night. The stars shine out cold and bright.
Reversal of the image sequence tells the story of day break. It produces the opposite emotional effect, leaving a very positive and childlike impression. It starts with a night sky full of stars. Then a hand appears and begins to push up the darkness. As the night lifts and starts to disappear the hand bids farewell. Then, as if lonely, it reaches out to try and grasp the last fading star. But it's too late, night has gone and daylight fills the sky. The hands catch the bird instead and they start to play, the star forgotten.
The aim is to show a simple human story, with struggle and hope, and a childlike reaction to surroundings and place in time. The bird flying through the images symbolizes time passing and the night day sequence puts the story on a time scale we understand. This is a very meagre interval of time when measured against the universe, but it's what we know.
The layout design of the book echos this cycle. The single images are printed one by one throughout the book. These images are then put together to form a sequence strip which is printed on the page opposite. This sequence is in turn used to make a patchwork of stars, which is printed at the start and at the end of the book, with a zoomed-in version across the centre double page spread. This layout shows where in the story we are, and places the single image within the 'bigger picture'.
The front cover is a collage of these graphics and is built on three planes of interpretation, or depth. In the foreground there is a hand reaching towards a red star. They are separated by a white arch that represents the division between Earth and space, or perhaps our immediate reality and a greater awareness. Behind this hand a patchwork of stars floats by. The story as told above is encapsulated within each of these stars, illustrating the idea that we, and everything, are made from stardust. In the distant background there are still more stars. They are so far away that they only figure as dots, much like the stars we see in our own night sky. Do they tell the same story as the near stars? Do they even still exist? Perhaps all we are looking at is their light travelling through time....
