The photography series ‘August 12, 1999’ exemplifies both how simple Gordon’s works can be and how complex the world appears to be. The series explores a past event: an eclipse of the sun – the ultimate sensory moment where we are reminded of the power of light and the circular path of the universe, where the slightest shift or a stray meteor could end life on earth in a split second. The ten works show the same sun, the same eclipse, on the same day, during the same seconds, but documented and illustrated by ten different British press publications. Even something as fundamental as the source of light on earth being blocked for a few seconds looks entirely different depending on which photographer took the picture and which newspaper you read. Gordon poignantly captures on paper the difference between an event and an individual’s understanding of it, between the world and its representation.