An art piece by Dubai-based British painter Sacha Jafri may soon be displayed on the Moon permanently.
This was announced this Wednesday (Feb. 23rd) at Expo 2020’s USA Pavilion in Dubai. Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the first landing on the Moon, the project will have one part of the first commercial lunar mission to be carried out under NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative.
The main partners include UK-based space exploration company Spacebit; American company Astrobotic Technology, which manufactures systems for delivering cargo to the Moon; and United Arab Emirates-based company Selenian, which specializes in “the curation of art in space.”
Spacebit is working on a multi-legged lunar rover of its own too. The artwork is said to be carried to the Moon later this year through a launch vehicle provided by Texas-based United Launch Alliance, then placed on the lunar surface by one of Astrobatic’s unmanned rovers. Multiple scientific instruments will be sent with the piece for use in studies being conducted by other mission partners.
Entitled We Rise Together – with the Light of the Moon, Jafri’s creation comprises a gold-plated aerospace-grade aluminum “canvas,” to withstand the temperature extremes it will have to withstand on the Moon’s surface. We’re still waiting to hear back about how the image was applied to that canvas.
During each separate phase of the mission – including the rocket entering the stratosphere, circumnavigating the Earth, and reaching the Moon – commemorative pieces of Jafri’s NFT (non-fungible token) artwork will be offered to buyers. Proceeds from those sales will go toward addressing “the four main concerns of our world,” namely health, education, sustainability, and equality.
Jafri’s latest painting, The Journey of Humanity was sold in 2021 for US$62 million. Not only is it the world’s largest canvas painting, but it is also the second most expensive painting ever sold at auction by a living artist.
“The placement of my moon-landed heart artwork, entitled We Rise Together – with the Light of the Moon, aims to reconnect humanity to ourselves, each other, our creator, and ultimately to ‘The Soul of the Earth,'” he stated in a press release. “With figures, entwined in love, reaching for a newfound understanding of unity and consequential hope, as they embark on their journey of exploration from our inhabited planet to our uninhabited Moon; through space and time, over mountain and star, to unlearn what we thought we knew and relearn everything through the hearts, minds, and souls of our children; the purest essence from which we have drifted so far, aiming to shine a light back on our broken planet, and start to heal its fractured heart.”