Hidden in Plain Sight was a photographic journey into the subsurface of Cornwall’s mining heritage.
This collaboration aimed to show hidden environments beneath the surface, at a human scale and at the micro scale. The Cornish landscape hides a wealth of industrial heritage, with more than ten thousand abandoned mine shafts and tunnels. Not only this, beautiful rock and mineral formations have developed in these abandoned underground mines. Microorganisms not only inhabit these deposits, they also play an important role in forming the minerals and structures. This project sheds light into the dark subsurface, highlighting the secret environments beneath our feet, and the unique habitats they provide for microbial life.
Photos from our sampling trips
And some of the mineral formations we sampled, which contained multitudes of microorganisms
Photographer, caver and mine explorer Hugo Glasier collaborated with Laura Newsome, Tomasa Sbaffi, and Carmen Falagan Rodriguez. The exhibition ran from 17 January – 21 February 2020, and with more than 50 people attending the exhibition launch event!
