Jessica Thalmann & Ryan Van Der Hout | No Wind on the Moon

Pamphlet stitch binding with laser-cut and silver leafed softcover

No Wind on the Moon is a quirky contemplative re-examination of the iconic images from the Apollo mission to the Moon by two Canadian artists Jessica Thalmann and Ryan Van Der Hout. Both artists use archival documents to rethink the photography’s ability to deceive and reveal truths by simultaneously disfiguring and lauding filmic and photographic objects.

While elements of exploration, cold-war politics and expansive landscapes have been the subject of many photographers previously, this book emphasizes the mistakes, anomalies, reflections and double exposures that are riddled throughout the archive. Both artists cull the archive and intervene with the image and mistakes are mimicked and enhanced within the book as each artist folds, cuts, burns and tricks the viewer. Between pages, topographical depictions of cratered surfaces flows into the marks or holes made by the artists.

These images reveal the artifice and ultimate fallibility of the indexical nature of the photographic image. If these are meant as scientific and historic documents, in what way do they hide or reveal the truth? And while we understand that the moon has no atmosphere (and thus no wind or breeze) we still cling to the photograph’s magic and rest in its comfort and catharsis.