Luke Jerram’s touring artwork ‘Gaia’ was exhibited at Wells Cathedral in October and November 2022.
Jerram’s ‘Gaia‘ follows up from his earlier Museum of the Moon installation which was also exhibited at Wells.
Like the previous moon artwork, Gaia at Wells cathedral comprises a huge, internally lit sphere suspended from the ceiling of the nave, but in this case the sphere is a model of our planet Earth (‘Gaia’ is the name of the ancient Greek god or personification of the Earth).
Measuring seven metres in diameter and created from 120dpi detailed NASA imagery of the Earth’s surface, the artwork is 1.8 million times smaller than the real Earth, and provides the opportunity to see our planet, floating in three dimensions.
The installation aims to create a sense of the Overview Effect, experienced by astronauts who have been privileged enough to see our planet in its entirety, hanging alone and fragile in space, hopefully renewing our sense of responsibility for taking care of the environment of this precious “island of life”.
The artwork planet slowly revolves about its polar axis, and is accompanied by a sound composition by BAFTA award winning Composer Dan Jones.
One is used to seeing maps of the world drawn upon flat cartographic projections, and the view of the land masses of the planet is surprising when seen on a spherical surface. Certainly from below the southern hemisphere appears huge, whilst the lands of the northern hemisphere are mostly hidden from view. Also noticeable is the fact that the Pacific ocean is vast in area.
The artwork was somewhat problematic to capture photographically, due to the purple lights that were installed below it: these give the false but unwelcome impression of a great deal of chromatic aberration.
I was able to record a short, meditative video of the installation: