fly me to the moon

© Juliana Jacyntho - 02This image combines three photographs taken in 2022, which together represent hunger and an exodus of destroyed nature.

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Dates

2023 - Ongoing
Author

Juliana Jacyntho
Topics Contemporary Issues
Location São Paulo, Brazil

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Fly Me to the Moon (2023 - ongoing)

Fly Me to the Moon (and you may read it as if you were singing) is an SOS call that proposes to the audience a runaway train toward an imaginary planet where we could be happy again — and reflect. This dream planet, however, is nowhere else but right here.

In an attempt to create a fabulation, the work brings into tension heterogeneous groups of images depicting devastated nature with assemblages composed of family photographs, seeking to recreate what a family album might look like after the end of the world.

Humanity has been living as if there were another planet to call “home,” available to host us after we have consumed this one. However — and unfortunately — such a place simply does not exist. There is still time to wake up and stand up for ourselves.

01This image is an assemblage evoking joy and movement. It is composed of three elements: a photograph of nature invaded by maritime transportation, which was taken in Seattle, USA, in 2019; a family photograph taken by my grandparents in the 1960s, when a child’s only worry was having fun; and a piece of Greek lace, symbolising traditional crafts and ancestry.

02This image combines three photographs taken in 2022, which together represent hunger and an exodus of destroyed nature.

03This image is a reproduction of a family photograph taken at a railway station in 1953. It represents human exodus around the globe, whether voluntary or forced; as refugees, human beings are always seeking better living conditions. An appropriated image of astronauts has been added to the crowd to ask the question: where is the next stop?

04This image combines three elements: two pictures taken in Seattle (water and stones) in 2019; a family photograph from the 1950s showing my smiling grandparents dancing at a ball; and a piece of Greek lace, symbolising traditional crafts and ancestry.

05This photograph was taken in Seattle in 2019 and it represents strength of will; the compulsion of life itself to turn around and fix our planet.

06A pair of photographs taken in 2022 in the northeastern state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil.

07A frozen plate over a spilled waste of water. As Alanis Obomsawin, the Canadian filmmaker, once wrote: ‘When the last tree is cut, the last fish is caught, and the last river is polluted; when to breathe the air is sickening, you will realise, too late, that wealth is not in bank accounts and that you can’t eat money.’

08An animal bone, partially covered with seashells. Northeastern Brazil, 2022.

09‘We’ve just arrived on the planet – what does its surface look like?’ Pages from a family album after the world as we know it has ended.

10‘Is there life on the surface? Is the soil red as we believe it to be on Mars? How surprised would you be to discover that I’ve found a little pau-brasil tree sprouting here?’ Photograph of dry soil in Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, 2022.

fly me to the moon by Juliana Jacyntho

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