About the artwork
The site-specific installation ‘Celebration’ created by artist Diana Scarborough was commissioned by Sidney Sussex College as a celebration of female scholarship for the 50th anniversary of the admission of women. Female fellows were invited to be photographed with objects of their choice that they felt best represented their research, themselves, or aspirations for the future. Scarborough’s photographs of hands and objects are in the style of Dutch still life painting; beautiful, evocative and clearly visible for those dining at the high table. Screens wrapped in gilded frames placed on stands that match the wall colour integrate the digital art with the past and present fabric of the hall. Proximity sensors are activated when someone is near, causing a new portrait to appear. Passers-by near the stands thus become the catalyst for change. With thirty different portraits, viewed as a pair, the changing combination of images on left and right screens offers up unexpected visual connections across disciplinary divides.