Aussie embroidery artist stitches her way to the moon
When Cheryl Bridgart free-stitches on her sewing machine, images of outer space keep appearing on the canvas.
It’s little wonder – a digitised record of her intricate artworks has been selected for a trip to the moon, aboard a Lunar Codex space capsule.
“It’s a bit overwhelming, it’s unbelievable that this actually has happened,” Bridgart told AAP.
The Lunar Codex project has stored images of work by 35,000 artists from around the world in a series of space-proof caches, and deposited them on the moon with the idea of preserving human culture.
It’s a message in a bottle to the future, states the project’s backer, physicist and filmmaker Samuel Peralta.
“Our hope is that future travellers who find these time capsules will discover some of the richness of our world today,” he said.
“It speaks to the idea that, despite wars and pandemics and climate upheaval, humankind found time to dream, time to create art.”
After some delays, Bridgart’s images are scheduled to rocket into space in February, and the Adelaide artist claims to be the only embroidery artist ever selected for the project.
She has been issued with a Lunar Codex boarding pass, and is considering heading to the United States to see the space mission take off.
In the meantime back on Earth, Bridgart is part of the city’s South Australian Living Artists Festival, which attracts about a million people each year.
The festival is designed to promote all of the state’s artists, from those starting out to those with international (and interstellar) reputations.
At a historic horse stable in Adelaide’s CBD, Bridgart’s exhibition is titled Fly Me To The Moon and features pieces such as Chasing The Moon and Romancing The Moon.
The SALA festival runs during August throughout South Australia.
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