Alien Visitor
Alien Visitor was inspired by three themes: (1) the work of Professor John E Mack; (2) Carl Sagan’s book, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space (1994); and (3) Planet Earth, the home of human life.
Professor John E. Mack was an eminent Harvard psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and Pulitzer Prize winner. His clinical work in part, focused on explorations of dreams and nightmares. During 1990, he challenged the academic community through publication research in which he postulated that people who reported that they had been abducted by aliens, were not mentally ill or delusional. Mack stated that for some of these people (who claimed to have been abducted), their experiences were genuine. He further stated that it was the responsibility of academics and psychiatrists to take the reports of those claiming alien abduction seriously and try to understand exactly what that experience involved.
The Pale Blue Dot is a photograph of planet Earth taken by Voyager 1. Taken from a vast distance, it depicts the Earth hovering in the incomprehensible enormity of space. It is also the title of a 1994 book by astronomer, astrochemist, author, and highly successful ambassador for astronomy, astrophysics and other natural sciences, Carl Sagan. Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space (1994) is a non-fiction book by Carl Sagan. In his book, Sagan mixes philosophy about the human place in the universe with a description of the current knowledge about the Solar System. He also details a human vision for the future, which in light of current political systems and environmental concerns, for me represents a timely revisit. The following passage is part of an address in which Sagan relates his thoughts on the deeper meaning of the photograph:
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.
Alien Visitor stands at 32 cm. and is made from numerous recycled materials including glass, paper, wood and dog fur.
(This post relates to Alien Visitor, Arrigo Dorissa art doll #16, November 2008).
I have been aware of Sagan’s, “Pale Blue Dot” monologue for years. There is a very good example of it on You Tube. Profound. Well done Arrigo! You take your sculptures into new directions with facinating reflections on current events, and then some. I look forward to your next submission. Douglas.