{"id":6017,"date":"2026-06-06T07:10:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T07:10:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antonyhall.net\/blog\/?p=6017"},"modified":"2026-06-06T07:18:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T07:18:39","slug":"entangled-light-helen-mcghieantony-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antonyhall.net\/blog\/entangled-light-helen-mcghieantony-hall\/","title":{"rendered":"Entangled Light (Helen McGhie+Antony Hall)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Entangled Light: Soil, Photography and the Garden as <\/span><\/b><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Studio<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">by Helen McGhie and Antony Hall<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"53\" data-end=\"316\">is a collaborative project with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.helenmcghie.com\"><strong data-start=\"105\" data-end=\"122\">Hellen McGhie<\/strong><\/a>, developed at the garden at Islington Mill, Salford. I am working as <strong data-start=\"192\" data-end=\"211\">co-investigator<\/strong>, bringing my ongoing experiments with soil-powered and moss-based microbial fuel cells into the project (<a href=\"https:\/\/antonyhall.net\/blog\/mosscillators\/\">more information here<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"53\" data-end=\"316\">The work asks how a garden might become a more-than-human studio, where soil, microbes, plants, light, energy and people all take part in making an image. My contribution focuses on building small microbial batteries using soil gathered from Islington Mill and Incredible Edible Salford\u2019s community garden, alongside found and low-cost materials.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"666\" data-end=\"983\">These soil-powered cells generate tiny amounts of electricity through the activity of microbes. When connected together, they can power small LED lights. Rather than hiding this fragile energy source, the project makes it central: the light used to reveal the work comes from the living material of the garden itself.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"985\" data-end=\"1307\">After the growing season, <strong data-start=\"1011\" data-end=\"1030\">Entangled Light<\/strong> offers a way to stay connected with the garden in darkness. Visitors encounter images gradually, using a small LED powered by microbial batteries. The image is never fully revealed at once; instead, it appears slowly through a shared system of soil, light, attention and care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"http:\/\/antonyhall.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/batteries-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6016\" srcset=\"https:\/\/antonyhall.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/batteries-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/antonyhall.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/batteries-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/antonyhall.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/batteries-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/antonyhall.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/batteries-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/antonyhall.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/batteries-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/antonyhall.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/batteries-600x450.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Image by Helen McGhie, of soil batteries created with the light generated though their own power.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Entangled Light: Soil, Photography and the Garden as Studio\u00a0 by Helen McGhie and Antony Hall\u00a0 is a collaborative project with Hellen McGhie, developed at the garden at Islington Mill, Salford. I am working as co-investigator, bringing my ongoing experiments with soil-powered and moss-based microbial fuel cells into the project (more information here) The work asks&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[240],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/antonyhall.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6017"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/antonyhall.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/antonyhall.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antonyhall.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antonyhall.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6017"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/antonyhall.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6022,"href":"https:\/\/antonyhall.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6017\/revisions\/6022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/antonyhall.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antonyhall.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antonyhall.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}