The so-called kangaroo-hop, is inspired by a mobility experiment conducted by Buzz Aldrin during the Apollo 11 mission. NASA footage gives an insight into Aldrin’s process as he learned to navigate unfamiliar environment, starting with postures from within his normal range of movement on Earth. These included lateral steps and leaps reminiscent of football footwork and the seemingly absurd kangaroo-hop, experimented with on the Moon with the awareness that a new environment may require different movements.

Aldrin was establishing new parameters for movement and expanding his bodily lexicon to adapt to lunar perambulation. This learning process resonates with the way the global team collaborating the get Aldrin to the Moon had to learn to manage their vast undertaking, connecting satellites across the planet, communicating with the Astronauts and facilitating the global transmission of the landing. Aldrin’s mobility experiment provides us with a tiny fragment of a vastly larger picture.

To create the work, I have taken the footage of Buzz kangaroo-hopping and redrawn each frame using charcoal and white pastel on a long strip of tracing paper. The quality of the footage is so grainy and blurry that my own images drift towards abstraction. I accompanied the drawings and the animation with a soundtrack that combines Buzz’s description of what he’s doing with other fragments of audio that capture moments when the astronauts were expressing their awe, wonder and joy at what they were seeing and feeling while in space for the first time.