Artwork: Andrew Rovenko, The Shuttle, from the Rocketgirl Chronicles, Melbourne, Australia
In Melbourne during the crazy lockdowns a truly wonderful and poetic project was born. Photographer Andrew Rovenko and his daughter decided to explore this “new” world that we found ourselves in, and so began the Rocketgirl Chronicles. Rovenko wrote this about the photographic project:
“An unintended photography project, born out of the intended family time in Melbourne’s 6th lockdown.
With no more rainbows on the pavements, stuffed animals away from the windows and once vibrant spoonvilles turned sad ghost towns – everyone needed to figure out their own way to keep going. Small things. Small wins. Like making a space helmet for your child fascinated by the night sky. And a suit.
Too bad that the novelty of a costume doesn’t last. Stories however, seem to have worked since forever. So we took the costume and went looking for stories. The good thing is that stories can be found anywhere, be it 5km travel limit or your bedroom. The bus stop or a laundry.
These photographs are the memories from the stories we found. The lockdown has now ended. We’ll outgrow the costume. But the time spent together exploring and imagining is one special gift to keep.”
Rovenko intends to make the Rocketgirl Chronicles into a photo book that will be crowdfunded through Kickstarter. If you wish to explore the beautiful and otherworldly photographs of a small astronaut stranded in Planet Lockdown, check out Rovenko’s Instagram @rovenko and website, https://rovenko.com.