When it comes to exhibition spaces, it doesn't get much bigger than the moon.
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And Canberra's Janet Thatcher is among those who can say her artwork has found its way to the final frontier.
The artist is one of almost 300 featured on the 22 seasons of the television show Put Some Colour in Your Life. The entire series has been selected to be in the Lunar Codex - or "the Museum on the Moon" - that will be rocketed to the Lunar South Pole as part of the NASA Viper rover and Astrobotic Griffin mission in 2023.
It's safe to say for Thatcher - who was unaware the documentary series was nominated to go to the moon until it was confirmed - the news of her out-of-this-world opportunity was an unexpected delight.
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"Very randomly one day, I got an email from Graeme Stevenson - who founded the show - saying, 'You're going to the moon'. And I was like, 'What? Is this some sort of prank or something'?" Thatcher says.
"After the shock wore off and I have had time to process it, it's so amazing. You're never going to achieve anything like that again. Going to the moon is pretty top of the line.
"It will show a variety of my work, as well as the process of my work, and it's a bit of my history as well."
Put Some Colour in Your Life is a television show based in Murwillumbah, NSW. The series is made up of 24-minute art documentaries about artists in their studios which are then distributed to television networks in more than 50 counties, as well as on online streaming services and Smart TV apps.
Thatcher's episode first aired in 2015, and focused on her hyper-realistic style.
"I was working on a leopard piece during the show, which was based on a photo from an English photographer," Thatcher says.
"Hyper-realistic wildlife is kind of my jam. It's what I do. And basically, the show just saw me sit down and work on the piece, I complete the piece and they ask me questions during the process."
Some of the other Put Some Colour in Your Life artists include Ken Done, Ernie Dingo, Eric Rhoads, leading art promoter Joseph Zbukvic, watercolour artist De Gillett, Alvaro Castagnet and Herman Pekel.
"When I began this business back in 2009, my vision was to build a library of the minds of artists, preserving a digital record of creative spirit, culture, and techniques for future generations," the show's founder Graeme Stevenson says.
"I had no idea that the library would be kept on the moon. It is just mind-blowing."
The Lunar Codex is a project to preserve contemporary creative arts for future generations - similar to a time capsule.
The entire project will see the work of more than 5000 creatives sent to the moon in three lunar capsules, launched as part of three separate missions.
"Our hope is that future travellers who find these time capsules will discover some of the richness of our world today," the Lunar Codex curator and physicist Samuel Peralta says.
"The Lunar Codex speaks to the idea that, despite wars and pandemics and climate upheaval, humankind found time to dream, time to create art."
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