Laura Skehan

Tecnica: Photo

Anno: 2021

Dimensione: 75cm x 50cm

Descrizione: is a photograph I took
while reflecting on the geological relationship between Iceland and the Moon. I was
particularly drawn to identifying rocks such as basalt and breccia—materials that are present
on both bodies. Iceland, with its sparse and silent terrain, feels otherworldly. It’s no
coincidence that its landscape was used to train Apollo astronauts, offering a striking
analogue for the lunar surface. The title, Plus lourd que l’air (“heavier than air”), is inspired
by 19th-century French photographer Félix Nadar, who took the first aerial photograph.
Fascinated by air travel, Nadar commissioned Le Géant, a giant hot air balloon that
influenced Jules Verne’s novels Five Weeks in a Balloon and From the Earth to the Moon.
Together, Nadar and Verne founded La Société d’encouragement de la locomotion aérienne
au moyen du plus lourd que l’air—The Society for the Encouragement of Air Travel by
Means of Machines Heavier than Air. In thinking about Iceland’s fiery origins and its geological connection to the Moon, I’m drawn to this uncanny material bond: the Moon, a
‘floating’ rock tethered to Earth by gravity, shaping our tides and, in turn, the formation of
basalt. This work explores a mysterious, unknowable relationship—one we can never fully
grasp through observation alone. There’s something profound in that not-knowing, in the vast
timeline of geological and hydrological forces that shape both worlds beyond our experience.