How do you illustrate an imaginary number?

10 years of Aeon ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ [View in browser]( [Donate now]( [10 YEARS aeon]( Aeon in pictures: jet ages, cat consciousness and the tangle of time There’s a Bob Dylan song with an enigmatic title. It’s called ‘Tomorrow Is a Long Time’ (1971). I’m not the biggest Dylan fan, and I’m telling you this in part because I heard it at the weekend in the car and also because, though I’ve heard it many times, I don’t really know what it means. It’s also kinda beautiful. Is 10 years a long time? I think it must be longer than Dylan’s tomorrow, but, in any case, that’s how long I’ve had the good fortune to be Aeon’s photography and illustrations editor. And, while it is not exactly [yesterday]( that we started out with a modest team and big ambitions, it has [flown]( by. It’s a cliché, I know, but like all good clichés, it is also [true](. So what do I do? I read the essays as they come in, settled in a favourite chair – as I imagine many readers might – and, if it is not immediately obvious how to illustrate one, I close my eyes and think. And occasionally, secretly, I sleep, perchance to [dream]( – hoping to be inspired. #[I’d like to donate]( There are, of course, any number of silvered or [coloured]( lures that might catch the [wandering]( eye mid-flow. Like a magical subterranean cave system, online archives and agencies, museums and galleries expand while we are looking elsewhere. We enjoy a saturated visual culture awash with distractions, many of which are [optimised]( towards an average perfection. Fortunately for me, and as befits Aeon’s interest in enquiry, we publish a lot on things that are not so easy to illustrate, not so easy to pin down. Not so, uh, obvious. Like quantum theory and the [limits]( of materialism, and things imagined in the [interior]( and, only a week or so ago, I had the quixotic thrill of having to find an image about what it means to [not imagine](. And what might an[imaginary number]( look like? Like a zero? Like a kind of [not]( or negative 4? I commissioned the experts to work that one out. Of course, as in any publishing endeavour and depending on where we are standing, we might not always see the same thing in a picture, you and I. And some of our choices may even seem to be deliberately obscure. But I like to think that where we [meet]( on the screen, the bit above the words, we’re also happy to see things differently – things being, on occasion, both beautiful and enigmatic. Your support makes a difference #[I’d like to donate]( Andy Sansom Photo Editor You have received this email because you signed up to the Aeon+Psyche Newsletter list. © Aeon Media Group Ltd 2022. Level 5, 100 Flinders Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000 Australia. [PRIVACY POLICY]( | [ADD US TO YOUR ADDRESS BOOK]( | [UNSUBSCRIBE]( | [CONTACT US](