Indian artist Sonal Relekar-Ramnath's 'Sisterhood' heads for the Moon

Indian artist Sonal Relekar-Ramnath is over the moon as is the country as her painting "Sisterhood" is headed to the moon as part of The Peregrine Collection!

A first for an Indian artist, her artwork will be part of an assembly of creative works by 1200 creative artists and one A.I.

These will be carried in a time capsule aboard the Astrobotic Peregrine Lunar Lander scheduled to be sent to the Moon this year.

Obviously on top of the world, Relekar-Ramnath says: "When I started painting 'Sisterhood', I never imagined that it would go to the moon, literally.

I find this whole experience nothing short of a miracle." The artist holds a Masters in Fine Arts from the Academy of Art University, San Francisco, and is based out of Mumbai.

Last year 'Sisterhood' was exhibited as a part of an International Exhibition 'Storytellers', curated by Elaine Schmidt and Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, Australia, in collaboration with US-based Poets and artists collective headed by Didi Menendez.

Poets and artists published this catalogue on 'Storytellers', which is now headed to the Moon.

The Peregrine Collection

The Peregrine Collection is among the most diverse collections of contemporary cultural work assembled for launch into space, and is believed to be the first-ever project to place the work of women artists on the Moon.

The assembly of thousands of creative works has over 1200 creative artists and one A.I., all of which is headed for the Moon.

The Collection represents creative artists from all over the globe, including from Canada, the US, the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Australia, Sri Lanka, Singapore, and the Philippines.

Included in it is a collaborative human-AI work of poetry between Peralta and OSUN, an OpenAI-based machine programmed by Sri Lankan author and researcher Yudhanjaya Wijeratne.

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The digitized artwork and literature files are contained in two microSD cards, encapsulated in DHL MoonBox capsules.

Delivery is by Astrobotic's Peregrine Lunar Lander, through NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.

The launch is scheduled in July 2021 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and the lander will touch down in the Lacus Mortis region of the Moon, marking Earth's return, and the first mission carrying commercial payloads, to the lunar surface.