The Moons of Darwin

The phrase ‘A LUNA KANULA’ is a Russian palindrome attributed to Andrei Voznesensky (whose sequence of letters reads the same in both directions) — the phrase coined in the era of Apollo 11, the message translating into English as ‘the Moon has disappeared.’

‘The Moons of Darwin’ constitutes a short verse that likewise partakes of such wordplay, insofar as the poem features a dozen lines (including the title) — all of which permute the same fund of letters, rearranging them to make a series of sensible anagrams, all of which express a lyrical concept about the Moon after our ventures into outer space. The work has grown out of a series of 24 collages, each depicting an abstract skyscape, whose palette corresponds to one of the hours of either daytime or evening, experienced in the tropical environs of Darwin, Australia.

I have produced the entire series of works, as an exercise over the course of 24 hours, beginning the creation of each work upon the hour (starting at 2:00 AM on 23 Oct 2022), applying as many triangles as possible to a pasteboard, then abandoning the collage after 60 minutes, moving onto the next work, without cessation, until I have completed the whole daily cycle. I have exhibited these works at the Northern Centre of Contemporary Art (NCCA) in Darwin for the artshow: ‘24HR Art’ (24 Nov – 17 Dec 2022), and samples of the work remain available for sale online.

The project embodies some of the ‘mystery’ of the Moon, evoking such magic through the casting of an anagram. The work evokes the cycles of time, which characterize the evolution of Life itself (here calling to mind the scientist Charles Darwin, who lends his name not only to a town in Australia, but also to a crater on the Moon). The Moon has presided over our evolution (despite its own lifelessness — a condition lasting billions of years, until we interrupted it with our visit in 1969, emulating the first of all aquatic animals to have left the seafloor for the savannah).