Tokyo-based artist Azuma Makoto has teamed-up with John Marchel Powell of JP aerospace to sent a japanese white pine bonsai tree suspended from a metal frame, and a bouquet of flowers into the stratosphere. “I wanted to see the movement and beauty of plants and flowers suspended in space,” Makoto told T Magazine at the launch site, Black Rock Desert in Gerlach, Nevada. “I am using brightly colored flowers from around the world so that they contrast against the darkness of space.”
“We needed to shoot the photos and video at an attitude of 30,000 meters and temperature of minus 50 degrees,” explains Makoto. “since there was a strict weight limit for loaded items, it was a continuous process of trial and error to choose the shooting equipments and settings, based on experiences and estimation of unknown.”
all images courtesy of AZUMA MAKOTO | H/t T Magazine