A British artist will become the first to have his work officially placed on the Moon as part of a £70 billion Nasa programme.
Sacha Jafri will have his latest piece set “eternally” on the lunar surface when an Artemis I mission places an “indestructible” engraved plate on the Moon later this year.
Mr Jafri, a former schoolmate of the Duke of Cambridge at Eton, has had to keep his involvement in the mission secret for more than a year. He has now described the mission to place artwork on the moon as a “symbol of human togetherness”.
He explained that the rigours of space constricted his usually colourful palette for the new work, titled We Rise Together – with the Light of the Moon, saying: “The moon is one of the most extreme environments imaginable.
“It’s on a gold-covered aluminium plate which is pretty much indestructible. I had to use a laser to etch the design. It had to be quite simple, and it couldn’t use colour. It is a heat motif, which is what I’m known for, and shows a couple in an embrace. It’s about that shared humanity.”
His work will be the first artwork officially placed on the Moon, although there is speculation that unofficial works have been surreptitiously left on the lunar surface by visiting astronauts.
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