Gosford (a Central Coast suburb of New South Wales) has experienced an abnormally high number of UFO sightings; so high that it is “the state’s biggest hot spot when it comes to UFO sightings, with dozens of seemingly authentic cases reported every year”. Reminiscent of Steven Spielberg’s ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ and ‘E.T.’, these reports conjure childhood nostalgia of a time when we were free to believe in things we could not see without the fear of ridicule.

 Supernatural sightings are reported and documented all around the world, yet the mention of their very existence is often laughable. Though the concept of the paranormal carries darker, more mysterious connotations of the unknown and the supernatural, it has also adopted a comical demeanour as a result of the fading curiosity of the adult population. Society no longer considers that there could be something beyond what is seen – a markedly child-like thought resulting from a desire to learn about the world.

This series explores the unknown and unseen, a topic that many do not express a connection to in fear of being alienated. Incorporating a cinematic aesthetic Under Dark Skies draws upon a nostalgic 1980s science fiction genre to immerse and promote questioning into the existence of what we no longer believe in.