Canberra - celestial chart Painting

STATEMENT Celestial charts Speculum (mirror) gave the name to speculation: originally to speculate had the meaning of observing the sky and star movements, with the help of a mirror. Sidus (star) gave also the name to consideration, whose etymological meaning is to observe constellations. Those two abstract words have their roots in the study of stars reflected in mirrors. (...) What does the mirror reflect? Dicionary of Symbols (translated from the portuguese version) Jean Chevalier Alain Gheerbrandt José Olympio Editora, 1982 6.th edition «Cartas Celestes» appear in the context of a project for the Paradise of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. After an intense period researching Dantes work, Rosário Rebello de Andrade arrives at an approach of Dante's vision, seen from a contemporary point of view. In a first phase of research, she investigates other artists' work which have in the past referred to the three phases of the Comedy: Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise, such as Botticelli, William Blake or Gustave Doré. It is in this phase that important decisions where taken: her approach shouldn't be an illustration of the Comedy, yet more centered in a global vision of the theme and should preserve the universal character of Dantes oeuvre. Important is also to induce the viewer to the influences that characterize modern times, such as globalisation. On the other hand, her approach should bring forth the notion of how these influences appear in a modern society and how globalization brings a determining change in political facts. Primarily, R.R.A. has chosen to work with one town for each continent of the world. This choice is based on towns from countries in which R.R.A. currently lives "” Portugal and Germany. As well there are countries from the four other continents she has traveled to in the past or with which she has a personal connection. Besides Europe, these are Canberra ( Oceania ), Kyoto ( Asia ), New York ( America ), Cape Town ( Africa ). «Mirror Game» «A mirror is an object that reflects light or sound in a way that preserves much of its original quality prior to its contact with the mirror. Some mirrors also filter out some wavelengths, while preserving other wavelengths in the reflection.» «A star is a massive, luminous ball of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter.