“I'm honoured to be the first Iranian-Canadian artist on the moon and among the first women artists on the moon” Homeira Mortazavi
I just landed on the moon. Or at least my art just did, as part of the Lunar Codex, a time capsule of paintings, drawings, sculpture, poetry, films and books aboard lunar lander Odysseus, which touched down near the moon’s South Pole on Feb 22, 2024. The Nova-C lander — nicknamed Odie— came to rest on the lunar surface around 6:24 p.m. E.S.T.
Dr. Samuel Peralta, a Canadian physicist, author, poet and artist arranged for the Lunar Codex Time Capsule to be filled with works by artists, authors, poets and filmmakers from more than 230 countries, including indigenous peoples. Peralta had the artworks engraved on NanoFiche then placed aboard a lunar payload in hopes of being discovered perhaps eons from now as a record of human creation in the 21st century.
Nine of my art works are now archived on the moon. I am grateful and humbled to be one of the first woman artists to be represented on the moon and the first Iranian-Canadian artist on the moon!! With deep appreciation to the brilliant and generous Samuel Peralta; to NASA, Intuitive Machines and SpaceX; to Didi Menendez, of PoetsArtists, and Sergio Gomez, of 33 Contemporary, the gallery representing PoetsArtists; and to Jude Biersdorfer for the article about Lunar Codex in The NewYork Times Magazine. And congrats to all artists who call Earth home while reaching for the stars.
THE LUNAR CODEX ARTIST ON THE MOON #AOTM
76 artists from the curated exhibit "Shelter" are joining "The Nova Collection" time capsule!
Shelter is based on a 2020 call for work specifically on the theme of shelter from the global COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2019, seeking works that evoked shelter, solace, safety, curated by Dr. Samuel Peralta.
No terrestrial catalogue exists of "Shelter" - it exists exclusively as part of a lunar edition.