A Time Capsule of Human Creativity, Stored in the Sky
My artwork titled “Ancestral Roots” is to be exhibited on the Moon. This is a first for me, and is fact, not fiction!
This year, 2023, the Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander (pictured above) will attempt a landing near a region called the Gruithuisen Domes, Moon, a location of great scientific interest that is to be the target of a future CLPS mission. NASA has scheduled the lift-off of the Peregrine for July 2023. Along with NASA instruments, these missions will carry commercial payloads, including the time capsules that make up The Lunar Codex.
How did this artwork of mine land in the Lunar Codex, in a payload to travel to the lunar surface?
Here is my story …
When I asked the model in this Moon-bound artwork if I could draw her portrait and she agreed. Arielle N’Diaye, a young American college student, was in South Africa as a student in a socio-political programme, a study of the pre- and post-apartheid era and we were her host parents.
On this particular day, Arielle, together with her fellow students from the USA were on a field trip to Robben Island to experience the background to the incarceration on the island of Nelson Mandela and his comrades. Fortunately, I could accompany them on the tour. This tour entails being taken through the darkened journey of Mandela as a prisoner and this became a deeply emotional and harrowing experience for these young students.
Something really struck me about the specific moments captured in my portrait. Once the students had disembarked onto the island, I was struck by the intensity and anticipation of her gaze as she took in the presentation by the tour guide. I tried to capture her intense wonder and admiration for the courageous and stellar leader, the world-famous Nelson Mandela.
“Ancestral Roots” is a portrait of a young woman in black and white.
It is a monochromatic black charcoal drawing on white paper in a round circle – tondo format within a square (60x60cm).
Read more background that motivated this artwork here.
I worked on this artwork for one month, with further work on it on and off for over a year or two till I was finally satisfied with it. Then it joined my other studio work, and I did not think of it again.
About five years ago …
About five years ago this artwork was selected for a publication titled “PA” – PoetsArtists. The edition is titled “100 Great Drawings – 2016”. It was curated and edited by an amazing American artist, Steven DaLuz. “Ancestral Roots” was included in this selection. At the time I felt humbled and honoured to be included in this prestigious collection of work and to be amongst so many excellent artists. I have Steven DaLuz to thank sincerely for his selection.
Once the excitement of this event was in the past, life settled down and continued. Little did I know what was to happen to my artwork!
An email out of the blue …
One day, I received an email out of the blue and it struck me at first as a bit of sci-fi. The email was from the very real Dr Samuel Peralta, the founder of the Lunar Codex. The image of my artwork in the PoetsArtists publication had been chosen, along with several artists’ work, to travel to the moon as part of a personal payload in a lunar lander.
This Lunar Codex archive – in essence – is a “cultural ingot” containing digital copies of works of over 30,000 artists, writers, musicians, and filmmakers from 156 countries. The Lunar Codex will travel to the Moon, in tandem with NASA’s Artemis program. It is scheduled to be on board the inaugural flight of the United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket – the launch which will land on the moon and deposit its load for posterity.
This Lunar Codex project is a first for art in many ways – the most notable being that – this will be the first time that women artists will exhibit their art in this “Art Gallery on the Moon”.
Without the generosity and kindness of the philanthropic Peralta, I and all my fellow artists would not be a part of this “World-first” and “Moon-first” event at all.
Who is Dr Samuel Peralta?
Samuel Peralta’s sci-fi books are best sellers. He is an award-winning physicist, writer, composer, and lyricist, and producer of award-winning films. He has curated several exhibits with “PA” – PoetsArtists. These are just some of his many achievements. He is a multi-talented, boundary-less, multi-skilled man!
Use this link for more background about Dr Samuel Peralta.
A friend asked me “What is the point?”
How would an alien be able to read the files? The time capsule is meant to be found by future humans from Earth, as they are more likely to visit the Moon. The Lunar Codex uses digital and analog technology to preserve art, books, music, and more. The choice of media is highly dependent on the project mission. If a being finds them – alien or human – I suspect it will be smart enough to work the technology out, just as we can still interpret Babylonian text even when the words have been eroded on the tablet surface over time.
You might ask, am I contributing to space junk?
Well, future generations will have an opportunity to learn a little about our era and times here on our planet, Earth. This time capsule holds genuine historical and cultural value, much like an unearthed time capsule of a bygone era might mean to us. It is not a piece of machinery no longer in use.
One wonders, could this time capsule float off in space? No, it couldn’t. The Moon does in fact have some gravity, just 1/6th that of Earth. A 54.4 kg object on Earth would only weigh in at only 9.1 kg on the Moon.
What does this all mean to me and what value do I place on this story in my life?
There is no single word to describe this fortuitous event in my life, but it is definitely a huge piece of serendipity.
If you would like to know more about who I am and what I do and to see my portfolio of works – use this link here.
Sue Tatham
News article in the Weslander : March 2021
Lunar Lander photo courtesy of Astrobotics Technology.
