All of planetary exploration is a story of longing. It’s a longing to know ourselves, it’s a longing to understand the significance of our own existence. It’s a longing to say to the universe that we are here, know us, where are you?
 -Carolyn Porco

     Space has long been a uniting factor for the countries of our world. Ultimately, it was on the International Space Station where two of the world’s biggest enemies were able to dock, share meals, and exist peacefully working towards a common goal of understanding the universe. When launching the Voyager satellites, we included a golden record containing earth sounds, songs, and friendly greetings from our world. This record created an illusion that our world was peaceful, understanding, and united. What is it about space exploration that fosters this human connection, Is it a cultural connection or is it something ingrained in our DNA?

      I create rockets due to their stoic stature, one that masks the ease at which a mission can end in disaster due to the breakdown of parts or communication. To emphasize the delicate nature, I chose to recreate rockets out of ceramic material and immerse the audience into an interactive experience that is intended to bring forth the urge to play. I decided to model these forms after the retro sci-fi style to invoke a sense of childlike wonder. I like to walk the line between science-fiction and science-fact in my work because sometimes in our own reality there are events happening that we sometimes pretend aren’t real. I feel working in this realm allows me to break down our boundaries to invoke a sense of nostalgia and pull forth the emotional need for human connection that lies deep inside each of us. I find that community and working together to be a better society are two things our world heavily lacks and if learned and carried out on a global scale would allow us to overcome majority of the emotional turmoil our world currently faces.

We paint pictures of earth being peaceful and all wish for a better world but rarely actively work towards it. In the end if you really think about it the earth is just as small of a spec to the universe as the International Space Station is to our Earth. When put into that perspective we tend to realize how we really only have each other and our problems are minuscule in comparison to the bigger picture just as Carl Sagan states in his book A Pale Blue Dot.