“Atmospheres of Possibility”
May 15, 2026
6 - 9pm
Roots & Culture Gallery
An imaginative show exploring life on far away exoplanets. Built in collaboration with Michael Zhang, an astronomer at the University of Chicago researching exoplanet atmospheres in search for clues that could point towards the possibility of life outside of our solar system.
show runs from May 15 — June 20
1034 N Milwaukee Ave
La Planète Sauvage
Film (1973) directed by René Laloux
I love this film. Its based on a french sci-fi book “Oms en Série”by Stefan Wul and takes place on a planet where human-like creatures (Oms) are both pets and pests to technologically-superior blue beings with red eyes (Drnaaggerss). There are two types of Oms: the domesticated ones, pets to young Drnaaggerss, and the wild ones, surviving the mysterious planet’s volatile landscape. The story follows an Om who escapes captivity and ventures out into the world. Its a fantastical watch, highly recommend, the soundtrack is equally amazing.
This film and it’s illustrations have been a source of inspiration for me way before this project began and, of course, continue to inspire the work I’m making for this show
2. Parallel Botany
Book (1977) by Leo Lionni
I read this book in 2024. It is a fictional book written in a non-fiction format documenting a mysterious branch of botany: “parallel plants”. The parallel plants exist on earth but they exhibit strange, unexplainable behaviors.
Lionni’s illustrations are delicate, precise, considered. And the book uses scientific fact and historical storytelling to blur the lines between reality and fiction, something I wanted to recreate for this show.
3. Hélène Smith
A famous late-19th century French medium
4. Everybody’s Guide to ESP
Book (1991) Ingo Swann
Towards the end of Summer 2025 I decided I wanted to poke at this project through the lens of ESP and I purchased this book out of curiosity. In it Ingo Swann talks about an early experiment where he would have a box suspended over his head and would draw what he perceived in it.
Since I can’t put planet K2-18B in a box I adapted the method using a large sketchpad. I would start by writing a question with my right hand—something like, “What do life-forms on K2-18B look like?”—then switch to my left hand, take a pinch of loose charcoal and spread it across the page. From there, I’d use an eraser and charcoal stick to form the “image”.
I say “image” because most of the results resemble psychological inkblot tests more than anything concrete. After a session, I’d step away, then return later to study the charcoal rubbings. I’d look at the rubbings and redraw what I saw onto my notebook. I was mainly looking for forms, or suggestions that could evolve into ideas of what life on this planet could look like.
5. Scavengers Reign
Animated sci-fi v series (2023) created by Joe Bennett
6. Hilma af Klint: What Stands Behind the Flowers
Show (2025) MoMa, organized by Jodi Hauptman with Kolleen Ku, Chloe White and Laura Neufeld
This show had been on my list, but we didn’t make it to NYC before it closed. Thankfully MoMa did a great job documenting and cataloguing the work online, so it’s almost like I was there, at least that’s what I’m telling myself.
Hilma Af Klint made these paintings while taking care of her sick mother in Sweden. The little vignettes within the composition, where she uses geometric shapes to tie the natural world back to her work on the spiritual studies, is what really stands out to me. I was inspired by these moments, they create an additional dimension for information to enter the composition, and pair so well with the flowers images.
7. Solaris (BBC radio play)
Radio play (2007) adapted by Hattie Naylor, based on book by Stanisław Lem
Michael brought this book to my attention. So I tried searching for an audiobook I could play in the background while I was drawing. I still haven’t read the book but I found this BBC radio play of it on YouTube that was worth the listen.
