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(Page 2 of 12) Meridiani Messenger by Stuart Atkinson
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I've been an artist's assistant!
Ha! I can almost see your brows arching in confusion from here, so let me explain. You remember a couple of issues ago we told you about Faye, the Archivist with the Victoria Crater MH team? Well, it's no coincidence that she took that job. Back on Earth - well, back on the Moon; I don't think she's actually been to Earth more than a handful of times, as she was born on Luna, in Copernicus Rim - she was a very well respected artist, specialising in painting the various landscapes of the Apollo landing sites. She's an accomplished sculptress too, and has several pieces on display on the Moon. But you won't find any of her work in galleries, that's not how she works; she creates her works out in the open, in secret, and then *leaves* them there, with no explanation or labelling or information, for all to see, interpret and appreciate in their own way.
And that's just what she's done here on Mars: helped by a few select friends - or should that be "accomplices"?! - she's brought beautiful art to our beautiful but bare world. But not abstract art, nothing ridiculous or incomprehensible; no piles of bricks or dirt-spattered canvases like many so-called 'artists' produce. I don't want to sound pretentious here, but Faye's art is accessible, and relevant. Most importantly of all, her art is natural, made out of local, natural materials. In other words, it's *martian*. It's as martian as I am.
"Alright! Stop wittering on about it and show us!" I hear you all shouting at your screens and visors! Ah. Unfortunately this issue of the Messenger is text only, because of the graphic-killing virus that affected our server last month... honestly, some people have nothing better to do than cause trouble, have they? ... but I'll scan and flash you all pictures of some of her works as soon as I can - I know I have some around here somewhere - but in the meantime I'll describe the best ones for you here.
The most famous, and most easily-recognisable of Faye's works, is also the simplest. Sadly, it's not here in Meridiani, it's Up North! If you were wandering across the Utopian Plain, a dozen or so miles to the north of the Viking 2 landing site, you'd come across, with no warning, a twelve feet tall rectangular slab of black stone, just standing there alone in the vast orange desert, looking as if it had fallen from the sky. The first time I saw it I thought I'd stumbled upon the grave of a giant martian, marked by a huge tombstone... maybe even John Boone himself...
You can't tell by looking at it, not even from up close, but it's made out of a single slab of ancient lava, taken from the flow-fields surrounding Olympus Mons. It's been polished so smooth by Faye that if you reach out to touch it with your fingers you
aren't able to, they just skid and skitter across its surface if you try, slide right off...
And staring into it, from up close, is like staring past your own reflection into infinity...
... sound familiar? If you're a science fiction fan it should do.
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