Born 1864 Australia – Died 1940 Surrey

Donohoe was born Margaret Tilley in Sydney and was at one point principal of Claremont College, Randwick; however she resigned in 1899 to go to England, where she married Irish journalist and war correspondent Martin Donohoe. In England she became an occasional correspondent for Australian newspapers, but after the death of her husband she became known for producing a form of spirit photography called skotographs. Her work shows an extraordinary variety of landscapes, figures, flowers, star constellations, jewels, birds, dogs, hands, eyes, and faces. Her gift was tested in the 1930s by F. W. Warrick, a chemical manufacturer and well-known British psychical researcher.

Definition of Skotographs written by Madge in the late 1920’s : “Skotograph (the word coined, I believe, by the late Miss Scatcherd from the Greek “Skoto”, darkness, as opposed to “Phos” light, of Photograph), or Psychograph is a picture obtained on a photographic plate which has never been exposed in a camera. My own method of making one is to put an ordinary photographic quarter-plate into the metal carrier which is used in a camera, and then hold it between my hands pressed to my face till taps inside the carrier (or often, jerk of the whole) tell me that the Spirit Photographers wish to speak to me. We converse by means of the taps or jerks and I receive instructions as to the duration or resumption of the sitting etc. Sometimes I am told what I may expect to find when the plate is developed and very often I get news of friends on both sides of Death’s Veil in whom the comnunicators and I are mutually interested.”

A large collection of skotographs by Madge Donohoe can be found in the collection of The Collection of Psychic Studies, London.

Exhibitions:”

The Perfect Medium 2004 Paris

Creative Spirits – The College of Psychic Studies 2022

Geister – Kunstmuseum, Basel 2025-26