Space Paintings, 2022
"Space Paintings" is a series of writing and painting work inspired by high-resolution NASA images of planets and my first-hand experience seeing technologies being developed for space exploration and exploitation. I envisioned the textures of space and imagined what it might feel like to be there, reflecting my anxiety about the depletion of Earth's ecosystems and the possibility of us needing to explore new planets for a home.
1 Imagine you’re floating out in space, way out beyond anything you’ve ever known – you’re deep in zero gravity, silence, your whole body is light and there is no other person in sight. Just you, watching the planets turn slowly. The Earth is so far in the distance you don't know if it exists anymore. In the emptiness in front of you there are tiny particles of a bronze metallic substance, floating past you at a speed you can only just make our their shape and size.
2 Our minds and bodies are fragmented, floating between sheets and strings of metal in zero gravity, floating in an endless loop, floating at speed, floating until we can’t possibly remember how we started floating in the first place.
3 Lift off!
One by one, but all at once, our eyes, nose, mouth, ears, started to go numb, lifeless. And then, without a second thought – detached, off our bodies and into the nothingness around us.
Painting
Titles, dimensions and materials
1. A Breath Out in Space - 120x120cm - Acrylic, spray paint and charcoal on canvas
2. Out in Orbit - 60x30cm - Acrylic, silverleaf, clay and spray paint on canvas
3. Planet Surface - 80x80cm - Acrylic, spray paint and charcoal on canvas
4. The Sun - 70x30cm - Oil, spray paint and sticks on canvas
5. Space Painting - 70x30cm - Oil, acrylic and spray paint on canvas
