HELIOS is a body of work that, in many ways, shouldn’t exist. Derived from a question that formed during Tom Liggett’s second year project at his studies at Arts University Bournemouth. What would happen if a sheet of film were sent into space? This complex undertaking has evolved into what is believed to be the first photographic work created through the direct interaction of cosmic radiation with photographic film.

Rather than using a camera, lens, or visible light, HELIOS I was produced by mounting a 5×4 colour negative within a sealed dark bag attached to a high-altitude balloon. Launched from the United States, the balloon travelled into the stratosphere, reaching an altitude of 121,000 feet, approximately three times higher than a commercial aircraft. Above the protective filtering of the ozone layer, the film was exposed directly to an environment formed from Muons, some from black holes millions of light years away, to UVC radiation found naturally above the ozone.

The resulting image was not captured; it was forged. Across its journey through near-space, invisible forces passed directly through the emulsion, physically altering the structure of the film itself. The image you see zero visible light reached the negative. Instead, the image emerged from the direct interaction between photographic material and the conditions of space, producing vivid celestial abstractions that exist beyond the borders of photographic process.

While film has previously travelled into space, from Apollo-era missions to radiation testing conducted by scientific organisations, those projects either relied on cameras to create images or treated radiation marks as unwanted artefacts. HELIOS reverses that relationship. Here, radiation is not damage to the image; radiation is the image.

HELIOS I- 121,000 FEET (max altitude)

HELIOS I: Radiation Image

After the success of HELIOS I, subsequent missions expanded the experiment further. HELIOS II underwent significant alteration from solar exposure, while HELIOS III burst on re-entry, however in doing so created a really important image, revealing the fragility of the process. Together, these works transform photography from a medium that records the world into a process that physically encounters it. Rather than representing space, the negatives become sites where space itself leaves a trace, in Liggett’s eyes “a better representation of space then a photograph could ever provided”

HELIOS II- 111,000 FEET

HELIOS II: Burst

The project represents the culmination of years of experimentation and Liggett’s drive to understand what photography can be rather than what it wants to be. With his inspiration for this derived from Hiroshi Sugimoto, series of images, “lightning fields”. A cataclysmic image, one that is formed out of electricity striking photographic paper. Inspired by this in his first year at Arts University Bournemouth, Liggett explored the effects of high-voltage electrical discharge on photographic emulsions using a Van de Graaff generator. During his second year, he collaborated with dentists and hospital technicians, exposing film to medical X-rays to understand how different forms of radiation could alter photographic material. These investigations eventually led to the development of what is HELIOS.

At the centre of HELIOS is a simple question: what remains of photography when light is removed? By replacing optical description with physical interaction, the project proposes an alternative form of image-making, one in which photography operates beyond the camera and beyond vision itself. The resulting works explore whether a photographic negative, altered directly by radiation and extreme atmospheric conditions, can offer a more immediate encounter with space than a conventional photograph.

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HELIOS I and HELIOS II will be exhibited at Copeland Gallery, London, from 16–19 July 2026

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https://www.tomliggett.co.uk/

All images copyright and courtesy of Tom Liggett

Art, Cosmos, Creativity, Photography, Space, Technology