Zero Gravity: Representation, Justice and Identity in Space

This project explores how cultural identity, representation, and justice are experienced in human spaceflight, using microgravity as both a physical environment and a critical lens. Filmed during a parabolic flight, the work centers Nepalese representation in space through the presence of the rhododendron, Nepal’s national flower, introduced as a cultural and symbolic artifact in zero gravity.

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By bringing a culturally rooted symbol into a human spaceflight environment, the project questions whose identities, bodies, and histories are allowed to occupy space, and how future space systems might move beyond technically successful missions toward culturally inclusive ones. The rhododendron becomes a medium through which themes of belonging, memory, and futurism are explored, linking Earth-based identity to off-world environments.

Situated at the intersection of human spaceflight, media arts, and social inquiry, this work contributes to broader conversations on space-enabled justice, cultural representation, and the role of symbolism and narrative in shaping who gets to imagine and participate in the future of space.