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Voyager Space
Nanoracks LLC
Moon Gallery Foundation

status:

Sobre los hombros

Paula Romero Franco

2022

Gold

1 x 1 x 1 cm

A small cube containing a gold-cast and hand-engraved foot. The foot symbolises change and embodies the act of traveling. Part of the Moon Gallery.

Sobre los hombros

The symbol of feet fascinates me because it signifies change. It embodies the act of traveling from one space to another. From familiar terrain, to strange and new environments that provoke us to adapt. Feet have allowed humans to explore, to migrate, to chase, and to dance. They set us in motion to satisfy our ever-present inquisitive spirit. A spirit that has accompanied us from the African savannah to the surface of the Moon.

 

Our feet have been faithful carriers of our species’ evolution; and Sobre los hombros is an ode to evolution. The sculptural representation of the foot plays with the act of standing on top of something, as well as the allusion to a path walked. The words “on the shoulders of giants”, engraved in Spanish, signal the magnificent history and development of species that eventually led to our –miniscule in comparison– existence.

 

I hand carved the piece in a figurative approach to be instinctively familiar to the viewer. Still wanting to maintain a connection to innocence and curiosity, it holds a doll-like appearance. The same association adheres to the calligraphy of the engraving. It has a childish and scribble-like aesthetic that intends to cite the human hand component of the work. The micro-sculpture is casted in gold to commend the metal’s resilience, as well as its historical and scientific significance.

 

There was so much magic happening on Earth long before evolution spat out humans. It is vital to recognize the abundance of life that came before us in order to care for the life present now. We tend to forget the enormous chain of coincidences that had to happen for us to be here, and it feeds to our superiority complex. We have accomplished a great deal as a species, but on a cosmic scale we are infants, still learning how to walk.

Paula Romero Franco

Paula Romero Franco

Ecuador

Collection:

Moon Gallery

Moon Gallery Foundation

Moon Gallery

Full Record Details

Sobre los hombros

Launch date​:

Launch  mission:

Launch provider:

Launch location:

Launching state:

Launch vehicle COSPAR id:

19 Feb 2022

Antares 230+ / NG-17 Cygnus resupply mission

Northrop Grumman

Wallops Island, VA, USA

USA

2022-015A

Destination:

Host:

Host COSPAR id:

LEO, International Space Station (ISS)

International Space Station

1998-067A

Return date:

Return vehicle:

Landing Location:

Return vehicle COSPAR id:

Current status:

11 January 2023

Dragon CRS-26

Gulf of Mexico

2022-159A

Returned

Project partners:

Voyager Space
Nanoracks LLC
Moon Gallery Foundation

Title:

Artist:

Date:

Medium:

Dimensions:

Genre:

IAAA art style:

Collection:

COSPAR id:

Sobre los hombros

Paula Romero Franco

2022

Gold

1 x 1 x 1 cm

Sculpture

Moon Gallery

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