January 28th, 1986 marked a tragic loss in NASA history and a sad day for the lives of many Americans. The space shuttle Challenger exploded in mid-air moments after taking off. Seventeen percent of all Americans witnessed the explosion live as they watched on television. April of 2012 marked the hundred year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, a calamity that claimed the lives of over 1500 people from both sides of the Atlantic ocean. An event that adversely affected all of society, upper, middle and lower classes alike. The destruction did not just end with the loss of lives on the boat. The scar left on society lasted for decades, Fathers lost their children, wives lost their husbands, children lost their parents, and society lost many important figures. Even today, the sinking of this once beautiful ocean liner is in the back of our collective consciousness as a reminder of what can happen despite our best efforts and highest imaginings. Buried beneath the waves of the cold North Atlantic is a boat yes, but also the dreams and ambitions of an age. On April 11th, 1970 NASA launched its third manned mission to the surface of the moon. Soon after reaching space, an explosion crippled the space craft. It took the combined efforts of all of NASA’s creative and engineering expertise and the prayers of the nation to bring these astronauts back safely. The small physical scale of these drawings is meant to bring attention to the grand scale of these events, both physically and in their lasting impressions on our national psychology. There are a few defining moments in each generation’s collective memory that we all remember, the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the assasination of President Kennedy, 9/11. These drawings explore that national collective experience in small meditative vignettes.
