Laura Skehan Tecnica: Photo Anno: 2021 Dimensione: 75cm x 50cm Descrizione: is a photograph I took while reflecting on the geological relationship between Iceland and the Moon. I was particularly drawn to identifying rocks such as basalt and breccia—materials that are present on both bodies. Iceland, with its sparse and silent terrain, feels otherworldly. It’s no coincidence that its landscape was used to train Apollo astronauts, offering a striking analogue for the lunar surface. The title, Plus lourd que l’air (“heavier than air”), is inspired by 19th-century French photographer Félix Nadar, who took the first aerial photograph. Fascinated by air travel, Nadar commissioned Le Géant, a giant hot air balloon that influenced Jules Verne’s novels Five Weeks in a Balloon and From the Earth to the Moon. Together, Nadar and Verne founded La Société d’encouragement de la locomotion aérienne au moyen du plus lourd que l’air—The Society for the Encouragement of Air Travel by Means of Machines Heavier than Air. In thinking about Iceland’s fiery origins and its geological connection to the Moon, I’m drawn to this uncanny material bond: the Moon, a ‘floating’ rock tethered to Earth by gravity, shaping our tides and, in turn, the formation of basalt. This work explores a mysterious, unknowable relationship—one we can never fully grasp through observation alone. There’s something profound in that not-knowing, in the vast timeline of geological and hydrological forces that shape both worlds beyond our experience.

Laura Skehan Tecnica: Photo Anno: 2025 Dimensione: 75 x 50cm Descrizione: This photograph captures the fruit and leaves of the American Sycamore, a tree we often pass without noticing, yet one with layered histories. Taken in a former East German district of Berlin, the image reflects on how this North American native has come far from its original home. Chosen for urban landscapes across Europe due to its resilience against pollution and extreme temperatures, it has become a symbol of survival—a force in both ecological and political climates. Once marking fertile land and fresh water during the westward colonisation of North America, the tree now grows in cities as far-reaching as Berlin and Rome, quietly bearing witness to shifting territories, migrations, and the entangled legacies of empire.