This series includes photographs I created while working at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) (from 2004-2015), still lifes made in my studio (2015-ongoing), and site-specific endurance performances for camera (2015-ongoing).
Here you see rows of photographs which are up to 40″ in length. It is important when I exhibit my photographs to include archival press photos and space artifacts. By including documentary assets a larger context is provided. From cryo tanks to the physical gestures of center directors, I use this opportunity to echo the culture of space with the artistic language of semiotics.
My first solo show of this work premiered at the non-profit gallery in New Mexico, the Sanitary Tortilla Factory, and several works were shown at Engage Projects, a contemporary gallery in Chicago.
Project statement:
My visual language is informed by my eleven year tenure as public relations photographer for NASA at the Glenn Research Center. NASA has a branding aesthetic that I learned and honed. I use visual language which I learned in art history and at NASA to expand from what is commonly taught versus what I feel should come to light. Much like the Guerrilla Girls’ use of the gorilla mask, I too use alien masks to shield the identity of my subjects. Finding my own disguise made a lot of sense metaphorically in the knowledge that the military used regional lore like UFO phenomena to hide missile tests from the public (Paglen e-flux 147). In my case, these are folks who are currently involved in military, aero, and space missions. Images without masks were created in support of the U.S. government missions themselves.
Space travel and scientific breakthroughs are highly complex productions involving state of the art technology, and a commitment with physical and mental exertion often to extremes. I drive long distances to scout and camp near sites of science tourism. I take my time with props, sci-fi costumes, and real space socio-artifacts. While performing, lighting and composing, I consider how space narratives are developed by people like me behind closed doors. These pictorial and everyday scenes of test sites at NASA are shared and taught both within the military bases and outside of them. Making my art in public, I look forward to moments where the incidental audience such as tourists, park rangers, and scientists engage with me while I work. I take my time to create what the photo industry calls “the money shot”. Conversations with witnesses give me a sense of how the picture is going to be perceived. In character, I perform as a gravity-bound astronaut spokesperson.
My first Post-documentary monograph for this series “Space Race: UNCLASSIFIED” is in-process. The layouts above show the photo-composite spreads. In its final state the monograph will contain text reflecting on my research and personal experiences. The final shape will match the size of a vinyl LP record, packaged and clamshell folded 12″x12″ and unfolded will be 24″x12″.
Bio:
U.S. based artist M.M.M. (they/them) earned their MFA (2017) from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) with New Artist’s Society full fellowship in photography; a former NASA photographer (2004-2015) who received a top agency award early in their career for meticulous digital imaging work on the Columbia Accident Investigation Ballistics Team. M.M.M.’s nickname for their eleven year career at NASA was “Lady Apollo” a nod to the “Mercury Women” or “FLATS” who were denied their place in the U.S. Astronaut Corps in the late 1960s.
Prior to NASA, M.M.M. grew up in museums showing early promise as a traditionally trained visual artist, darkroom photographer and blues guitarist. M.M.M. received their BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art in photography, film, and time-based media with merit. Prior to working at NASA, M.M.M. went to the Advanced Adult Space Academy at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville in 2003 which rooted their examination and cultural production on the subject of human space flight.