Apollo 8’s crew were the first humans to leave earth orbit and look down on the moon. Their leap into the void was arguably more significant than the more famous first moon landing that followed several months later. Of its many profound aspects, this exhibition focusses on the crew’s decision to read from the book of Genesis during a television broadcast from lunar orbit on Christmas eve 1968. This gesture instinctively articulated the limits of human creative powers, even as these powers were manifesting in seemingly limitless ways. It has been criticized as anti-secular, anti-science, and for diminishing the glory of ‘man’. However, it is viewed here as a triumph of humility over hubris which may prove instructive as we navigate new technological and metaphysical unknowns.    

The works are photocollages made from historical NASA images and the artist’s own photographs of the site of the former Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station near Canberra, which helped track the Apollo missions. They were created for the artist’s current PhD research at ANU School of Art and Design on national memory and the fiftieth anniversary of the first moon landing.

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