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On January 18th, 2024, the Axiom Space Ax3 Mission lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in a SpaceX Dragon capsule on top of a Falcon 9 rocket. Inside the Dragon capsule was the Axiom crew along with some special cargo - adventure space art (see Axiom 3 Space Grails Collection).
I began creating adventure art three years earlier in January, 2021. My first piece of Adventure Art is called Seeker and it is the most well traveled art piece in history.
Seeker was created for an expedition to the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of planet Earth. Astronaut and The Explorer Club president Richard Garriott was going on his Challenger Deep mission along with the famous ocean explorer Victor Vescovo. Richard put out a Twitter tweet soliciting poetry and art to bring with him on this epic voyage. As a result, Seeker was born.
I drew Seeker as a cultural statement representing the inherent bonds between the ocean, the sky, and AfroGaia - my version of Mother Earth. The poem that accompanies the artwork is a cinquain. A cinquain is a poem in which the first line has 2 syllables, the second line 4 syllables, the third line 6 syllables, the fourth line 8 syllables, and the fifth line 2 syllables. The poem represents the human need to explore the boundaries of the unknown.
By the time Richard Garriott resurfaced and returned Seeker to me, I had won Inspiration4. But before Seeker could go with me to space, she had to go on one more adventure. This time it was to the iconic Titanic ship wreck. Retired NASA astronaut Scott Parazynski along with his wife Mini headed down to the Titanic in May 2021 on the Titan Submersible carrying Seeker with them. Seeker then launched to space with me and my crew on September 15, 2021. Upon returning from space, I donated Seeker to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital as part of the Inspiration4 fundraising challenge where it sold at auction to my Inspiration4 commander Jared Isaacman for $100,000.00!
Along with Seeker going to space, I also had the honor of both drawing and painting while orbiting our beautiful planet. Dragons were the one thing I consistently drew as a kid so it just made sense for me to draw a dragon in space. Also, as the mission pilot for Inspiration4, I am an official dragon flyer!
I also created a new version of AfroGaia but this time in space using metallic watercolors. Painting in space wasn't as difficult as I thought and I feel so fortunate that my crew members supported me by giving me the time to both draw and paint. Watch how she shimmers at the end of this video.
I also have a satellite circling the Earth with my art etched into it. This Planet Dove satellite was also launched into orbit in 2021. The art is an abstract representation of humanities need to go explore outer space while still being connected to Earth. It doesn't matter if we are round, square, or oval - we still have a point of origin to call home.
