[2025] I GOT US THE MOON : Alejandro A. Barbosa

I GOT US THE MOON
Curated by ELLIOTT RAMSEY

2025
210 in x 105 in
280 panels
7.5 in x 10.5 in laser-engraved archival pigment prints, T-pins
Edition of 5 + 2AP

First exhibited at The Polygon Gallery in North Vancouver, BC
from June 27 to September 28, 2025

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I GOT US THE MOON presents a monumental new work by Vancouver-based Argentinian artist Alejandro A. Barbosa, consisting of 280 individual prints tiled together to form an atlas of the moon. The image is drawn from the “CGI Moon Kit”, a publicly available digital asset for non-scientific purposes, created from data assembled by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter camera and NASA’s laser altimeter instrument teams. Combining his extensive research with this specific, aesthetic representation of the moon, Barbosa steps into the role of amateur astronomer – astronomy being notable as one of the only scientific fields to which hobbyists make meaningful contributions.

Motivated by the current potential of a new space race, with the moon viewed as an asset to colonise or mine for resources, Barbosa engages with histories of naming-as-claiming, while disrupting the exclusive naming rights of the International Astronomical Union. These rights were granted in 1982 by the United Nations as a way to standardise a proliferation of systems by which lunar features had, until then, been named. Barbosa references these prior histories, here renaming lunar geographical features after a wide range of figures: some unknown, others infamous, and many significant to queer and feminist histories. In doing so, Barbosa posits the Earth’s satellite not as a commodity or frontier, but rather as a parallel world: one that becomes a site of collective fantasies, alternate timelines, and queer world-building.

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Editions 1 and 2 of this work can be acquired by panel through The Polygon Gallery's Online Store

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Introductory audioguide by Curator Elliott Ramsey:

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[accompanying publication]

I GOT US THE MOON
2025
self-published with the support of The Polygon Gallery
edited by Elliott Ramsey
printed and assembled by the artist
8 pages | slipcase, folio and foldout book | numbered edition of 50 + 10 AP
ISBN: 978-0-9958650-5-1

Includes the essay LIFE AND THE MOON by Curator Elliott Ramsey and the text OUR MOON by Alejandro A. Barbosa printed on the backside of a foldout print of the full work, contained in a folio printed with other images from the project and a slipcase. Each component is an archival print on uncoated cotton rag paper.

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Installation views by Dennis Ha:

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Photo Credit: Dennis Ha