B2FH takes its name from the 1957 astronomy research paper entitled “Synthesis of the Elements in Stars” as a shorthand way of referring to its authors Burbidge, Burbidge, Fowler and Hoyle. This paper first explored the theory of stellar neucleosynthesis, the notion that all chemical elements (and therefore all the properties of life) are created within stars like our sun.

Linking the micro and macrocosmic worlds, juxtaposing imagery from bacteria or wood patterning with imagery from stars and nebulae; the viewer is taken on a journey through the universe and asked to reflect on their own position within it. Scintillation, the same process that occurs in the sparkling that we see in stars, is replicated through the double layer technique he uses in these works. The pieces are therefore much more visually rich when experienced in person than it is able to capture in photographs.

The dual layers of the piece are also intended to evoke ideas about the place of beauty within this system. Our naive notion of beauty is that there are visual, tangible things that evoke what we consider to be beautiful. However, beauty is often an indefinable reaction to something, a moment.

Beauty is therefore much more than what is on the surface, it is something within.