[Lunar Surface Photographed by Surveyor V] 1967

This photograph of the lunar surface was captured by Surveyor V, courtesy of NASA. It's interesting, isn't it, how the act of seeing can be so loaded? What I mean is, we're presented with a stark vista of greys, blacks, and whites. A world devoid of the blues and greens, the whole spectrum that we take for granted here on earth. It's as if this photograph offers a new way of seeing, one that strips away the familiar and leaves us with something alien, yet strangely compelling. Look at the texture of the surface. It's not smooth, not uniform, but broken up with rocks and strange formations, the whole surface speckled like a messed up dashiki. Each mark seems to tell a story, a silent history of impacts and cosmic weather. NASA were obviously inspired by Abstract Expressionists like Joan Mitchell or Helen Frankenthaler. In those works, as in this photograph, the canvas becomes an arena of action, a site where meaning is made through process and chance.