Specimens

Graphite on paper, each 70 x 100, 2018-2019

Nowadays we would consider outer space to be the realm of science and astronomy, and inner-space to be the realm of fantasy and psychology. This was not always the case…human beings have been travelling to and exploring other planets and moons…for many centuries now; doing so not with rockets, but with nothing more technologically advanced than the powers of the human mind…

S. D. Tucker, Space Oddities, 2017

These three drawings emerged from thinking about close encounters with remote, inhospitable places and the technical, physical, and mental exertions necessary to make them happen. I thought about the constraints of the vessels built to take only two or three humans on the last leg of those voyages, the humans travelling inside, stand-ins for the whole of humankind while also individual standouts. Like the travellers venturing inside, these vehicles stand as examples of a kind of travel that has is not the norm but the exception of exploration. And yet, as the possibilities of manned trips to the Moon and Mars are being re-visited, the images of these vehicles act as reminders of the implications of such desires.

This work emerged as part of Uncalibrated, my PhD practice-led research (click here for more info).

Specimens (Capsule), graphite on paper, 100 x 70 cm, 2018

Specimens (Submersible), graphite on paper, 100 x 70 cm, 2018

Specimens (Lunar Lander), graphite on paper, 100 x 70 cm, 2018