Objects and Moons — Far Side of the Moon — Southern Hemisphere, 2019

Jorge da Cruz
Series of six charcoal drawings on paper

Text by noT

Objects and Moons — Far Side of the Moon — Southern Hemisphere is a series of six charcoal drawings developed by Jorge da Cruz in 2019. The project takes as its starting point a particular astronomical condition: the existence of a lunar hemisphere that cannot be observed in its entirety from Earth. Rather than representing the Moon as a recognisable celestial body, da Cruz explores how something physically present but inaccessible to direct observation can be reconstructed through images, scientific knowledge, and imagination.

The far side of the Moon has long occupied a particular place in our understanding of the solar system. Although frequently described as its dark side, this hemisphere receives sunlight just as the side facing Earth does. Its invisibility is the result of synchronous rotation, a condition established through gravitational interactions between Earth and the Moon. Over time, the Moon's rotation became synchronised with its orbital period, causing approximately the same hemisphere to remain directed towards Earth. Even accounting for libration, the slight apparent oscillation that allows us to observe additional areas near the lunar edges, the far side remains largely inaccessible to direct terrestrial observation.

This distinction between physical existence and visual accessibility is central to the series. The drawings investigate a subject whose appearance was, for much of human history, known only through speculation. The Moon was familiar as an object in the night sky, yet a substantial part of its surface remained outside human experience. Its apparent completeness concealed an important absence in our knowledge of it.

The first photographs of the far side were transmitted by the Soviet spacecraft Luna 3 in 1959. Although technically limited, these images revealed a surface considerably different from the hemisphere visible from Earth. The extensive dark volcanic plains familiar from the near side were far less prominent, while the far side appeared more heavily cratered. The photographs introduced an entirely new visual understanding of an object that humanity had observed for thousands of years.

This moment in the history of space exploration also introduced a different relationship between observation and representation. The far side could finally be seen, but only through instruments travelling beyond the observer's physical reach. Its image depended on photography, transmission, and technological mediation. What had previously existed largely in the imagination became accessible through scientific evidence, although the experience remained fundamentally different from observing the Moon directly.

Da Cruz approaches this distance through the physical construction of the drawings. Each work presents a circular form developed through fragments, variations in tone, and visible interruptions in the surface. The circle establishes an immediately recognisable reference to the Moon, but the internal organisation resists the appearance of a continuous, unified image. Individual sections seem to belong together without necessarily producing a complete or stable representation.

The relationships between these fragments are an important aspect of the compositions. Seams, changes in texture, and differences in tonal density remain visible rather than being concealed. The resulting forms suggest images assembled from separate observations or incomplete sources. Their construction recalls the processes through which distant objects become visually accessible: photographs are collected, surfaces are mapped, information is compared, and individual records contribute to a larger representation.

Charcoal is particularly suited to this exploration because of its material and visual properties. Its range extends from dense black surfaces to delicate grey transitions and areas of exposed paper. Through accumulation, pressure, and erasure, da Cruz develops forms that can appear simultaneously solid and uncertain. Some passages suggest the physical texture of a planetary surface, while others approach abstraction, leaving the distinction between observed geography and imagined material unresolved.

The use of charcoal also introduces a relationship between the subject and the drawing process itself. The material consists of fine particles deposited onto paper, capable of being displaced, removed, or redistributed. Surfaces are constructed through the accumulation of matter, while erasure reveals previous layers or returns areas to the original paper. This process allows the drawings to develop through a succession of additions and interruptions, reinforcing their character as provisional reconstructions rather than definitive representations.

Although the works share a common subject, the six drawings do not function as repeated illustrations of the same object. Their differences in surface, fragmentation, and tonal organisation allow each to propose a distinct interpretation of the lunar form. Presented together, they establish a relationship between individual images and the larger subject they attempt to describe.

This serial approach is significant. A single representation might suggest the possibility of a complete image, while the presence of several variations introduces the idea that no individual drawing can fully account for its subject. The Moon becomes both a recognisable object and a collection of partial interpretations, each revealing something while leaving other aspects unresolved.

Objects and Moons brings together an interest in astronomical knowledge with a broader investigation of how images are constructed. The series considers the distance between an object and its representation, particularly when direct observation is impossible and understanding depends on technological or imaginative reconstruction.

Rather than attempting to reproduce the scientific appearance of the far side, da Cruz uses charcoal to examine the limits of representation itself. The six drawings suggest that greater access to information does not necessarily eliminate the distance between an observer and what is being observed. Even when a previously invisible surface becomes known, its image remains a translation of physical reality into another form.

The series ultimately approaches the Moon through this relationship between knowledge and absence. Its circular forms suggest completeness, while their fragmented construction makes that completeness uncertain. Together, the drawings present an object that has become increasingly familiar through scientific exploration, yet continues to exist beyond the limits of ordinary human perception.

noT