Laura J. Lawson

This series is based on information found in US Geologic Survey maps of other planets and moons in our solar system. Over the years, these maps were produced from data gathered by NASA, produced for NASA to discern optimal sites for research. The success of the Apollo missions, probes like Voyager and Mariner, and rovers like Curiosity and Perseverance, are due in part to the accuracy of this cartography.

My interest in this research stems from my own awe of the Earth and practice of landscape painting. My work about Earth always takes an aerial perspective—it is important to me that the viewer meet the planet face-to-face, being to being, instead of using the perspective of vistas falling away from one’s feet the way traditional landscape painting has done. Earth’s surface is an active place, with tectonic plates in flux, tides flowing in and out, and ecosystems cycling through seasons. Earth will do as it pleases. Should climate catastrophe ruin human life irreparably, Earth will go on in new ways whether we’re here or not.

Discovering the history of places like Mars and Venus could teach us of other climate catastrophes, and the pace at which these changes happened to them. Even if we weren’t in danger (and we certainly are), interplanetary research is a beautiful thing, simply for understanding the Solar family tree and our place in the universe. These artworks encompass the pleasure and enlightenment of uncovering astronomical knowledge.

The start of this series began on translucent plastic paper but has grown to use clear and tinted acrylic sheets for a substrate. Having light pass through the work invites associations with learning, truth, transparency, and enlightenment. I recreate the textures of the planets’ surfaces with acrylic ink on the back of the acrylic and draw the cartographic information on the front with acrylic paint pens. The map and the terrain are aligned as one visual piece, but when viewed up close or at angles, it’s apparent that the acrylic sheet separates the two layers. Except for the moon, no human has set foot in these landscapes. We cannot know the landscape in the intimate ways we know Earth’s until we resume manned missions.

Each artwork is in the exact scale of the original publication. I strive to provide a parallel experience for my viewers to that of a NASA scientist. While the scientist reads the map for knowledge about past formation and future missions, the viewer can read the artwork to compare the terrain to Earth and imagine the past and future of both places.