In The Eye of the Beholder: Research Talk by Dr David Clarke and Andrew Robinson, Saturday 11 May 2024

The Mysterious Art of the UFO!

 

This Saturday, 11^th May, SHU academics David, Clarke and Andrew Robinson are presenting a paper entitled ‘In The Eye of The Beholder’ exploring the visual representation, in eyewitness drawings, photography, film and popular culture, of an unidentified, anomalous phenomena (otherwise known as UFOs) at The Folklore Centre in Todmorden, West Yorkshire. The talk will also reflect on the worldwide response to the discovery by David Clarke of the only extant photograph of the infamous Calvine UFO sighting of 1990 which was published with a photographic analysis by Andrew in the summer of 2022, becoming the Daily Mail Online’s second most read story of the year. The pair were interviewed about their research and the upcoming event on the Sam Nixon show on BBC Radio Leeds last Monday (7th May).

 

At the talk, David and Andrew will also be collecting data for their ongoing research project which examines public perceptions of UAPS and UFOs; their representation in popular culture; and the often problematic role that photography so often plays in providing visual evidence and documentation of sightings. Attendees will be invited to sketch out their impressions of UFOs and UAPs and Andrew will demonstrate how some UFO photographs may have been faked.

 

An exhibition of rare UFO imagery from the personal archives of the researchers curated by Andrew Robinson will also be showing at the Folklore Centre for a month following the talk. Further information and bookings can be found here.