THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Works of art by a Malayali artist will be displayed in the Moon Gallery to be set up at the International Space Station. Lakshmi Mohanbabu, a native of Thiruvananthapuram and granddaughter of AP Udayabhanu, a prominent Gandhian and freedom fighter, will be the owner of this historic achievement.

Launch tomorrow

Two of the 64 works of art in the payload of the Nanorax NG-17 rocket, which will be launched tomorrow from Virginia in USA, belong to Lakshmi. The Moon Gallery is the first art gallery to be launched in space.

Lakshmi is an internationally acclaimed artist who has made her mark in modern painting. Lakshmi is launching two works from her international painting series into space. These three-dimensional images, created using Cubism, reflect multicolor. The two works incorporate five different levels of structure. The first of these beautiful sculptures was made by Lakshmi herself and the second was created by Professor Mattao Seita of the Nanyang University of Technology. Lakshmi's style is an intricate painting and sculpture that combines science and art. They are named the 'Structure and Reflection' and the 'Cube of Communication'. These works of art are small in size and can be described as smaller than a dice. The size of each is 0.98 cm. The surfaces of the cube were designed from Lakshmi's paintings. The Moon Gallery is designed like a tray. It is about 10 cm long, 1 cm wide and 1 cm wide.

On the moon in 2025

These were selected from hundreds of entries by the Netherlands-based Moon Gallery Foundation. The gallery is expected to be placed on the moon by 2025. Nanorax is an American private company that has successfully delivered small satellites to the International Space Station. Nanorax also plans to shoot film and television series in space.

Speaking on the phone from Singapore, Lakshmi told Kerala Kaumudi that she is trying to uplift humanity and show solidarity with global humanity through paintings that can be described as paintings or sculptures.

It can be tracked

Lakshmi has been living in Singapore with her husband Gurtaj Pada for 20 years. A native of Punjab, Gurtaj works in telecommunications. Both are Singapore citizens. Graduating from Manipal with a degree in Architecture and Fashion Technology from NIFT in Delhi, Lakshmi eventually turned to her passion- painting and sculpture. Lakshmi is the daughter of Udayabhanu's daughter Ashalatha and Mohan Babu, a UN official.

Lakshmi's paintings in NFT digital format, a modern form of painting, can be tracked from anywhere on Earth via the Space Station (ISS) web.