• MFA in Fine Art

Sarah Edmondson

The Subjection of the Moon to the Mind of Man, 12 White Men to be Specific

Can the moon be understood beyond any human description or naming? As soon as we [us humans] name something we claim possession or ownership of that thing. In an effort to understand, we label and categorise; colonising the object or place. A phenomenon coined ‘Scientific Imperialism’ by Dr. Ellis T. Powell during an address in 1920. He used the term to describe “the subjection of all the developed and undeveloped powers of the earth to the mind of man”. The term is still used by critics when referring to situations in which they perceive science to act imperiously. Would I describe the exploration of outer space as scientific imperialism? Yes, probably, because every new discovery is named; becoming owned by our language, captured and contained by our knowledge of its existence. In 1972 the astronauts from the Apollo XVII mission brought back samples of moon rock to be analysed. These stolen rocks became objects when President Nixon ordered them to be divvied up and gifted to states and countries. They objectify the moon. I, therefore, propose we reject the acceptance of these gifts on our behalf.