Earth and Moon

Artist’s Statement:

The Earth and the Moon are separated by a distance of 384,400 kilometers. Earth and Moon depicts only the field of space through which these two bodies interact. At a scale of 1:200,000,000, the Earth and the Moon are separated by about six feet. This happens to be the minimum distance that health experts have advised members of different households keep between one another during the current pandemic. But at two hundred million times this distance the Moon still orbits the Earth, and the Earth still feels the Moon’s pull as it sloshes around our oceans and creates our tides. We still admire the Moon each night when it no longer shares the sky with the sun, and soon, when humans return to our planet’s largest satellite, we will once again look back and admire our familiar home. So let us love and understand one another, be it from six feet away or from 384,400 kilometers. And once we may return to each other in the physical sense, let us rediscover the value of our connections.

About the Artist:

Shane Ackerley recently graduated from Etobicoke School of the Arts where he majored in Contemporary Art. He now studies Science at Western University in pursuit of an undergraduate degree in Astrophysics. When learning about the cosmos, Ackerley acquires tools that help him interpret his relationships with the things that surround him. His process centers around connections between his own life and other aspects of the universe, forming a symbiotic practice in which he may further his understanding of both. His choice of physical materials usually depends on the metaphors he is working with. Though his long-term plans are undefined, Shane Ackerley will continue to learn and create, and he hopes his work may spark some curiosity or honest discussion.