Marianne Bernstein
Dark Side of the Moon, 2026
Artist book (photography)
9-1/2 x 7-1/2 x 1/2"
Edition of 20

Artist Statement
Dark Side of the Moon is a poetic journey exploring connections between our inner and outer worlds, reason and emotion, the known and the unknown. Scientifically, "the dark or far side" of the moon is the view we cannot see from Earth. China recently launched an unmanned space probe to collect samples there, the first such mission in the history of lunar exploration. The Chang'e-6 (named after the moon goddess in Chinese mythology) returned around five pounds of lunar samples to Earth for analysis, providing new insights into the history of the Moon, Earth, and the Solar System.

Since prehistoric times, the Moon has occupied a special place in our imaginations, revered in myths, art, science, literature, music, religion, alchemy, astrology, and philosophy. 4.5 billion years old, one quarter the size of earth, the Moon orbits the Earth and pre-dates the human world. In ancient Greece and Rome, associated with various goddesses, it symbolized rhythms of female desire, intuition, emotions, birth, life, and death. Both the universe and the human body were thought to be interconnected; the universe was the macrocosm, the body was the microcosm. Doctors believed that the body contained humours, affected by the Moon, which influenced our bodily fluids, just as it impacted the waters of the Earth. The full moon was also thought to bring on insanity, hence the word "lunacy".

In this book of photographs, astronomical images from the Dark Side of the Moon are interwoven with dream self-portraits and scientific imaging of my interior body. The improvisatory portraits were created during a turbulent time in my life. I appear to have conjured up Hecate, the goddess of the Dark Moon in the Underworld. Dreams are a dark continent of the unconscious, deconstructing ourselves and our beliefs. Facing our shadow and self-sabotaging selves, we uncover repressed memories; essential in becoming empathetic, more loving humans.

Under the microscope, our bodies are a galaxy. Most likely our cells originated in outer space. All five building blocks of DNA and RNA (which encode our genes) have been found in meteorites. These represent the entire blueprint of who we are. Facts, reason, science, intuition, mystery, and emotion-we need to forger deeper connections to other realities and to ourselves. For all its beauty, life's dark side remains beyond our reach and understanding, residing in the realm of both possibility and destruction."

Bio
Marianne Bernstein is an artist and independent curator. Dark Side of the Moon, published in 2026, is her third book of photographs, following Theatre of the Everyday (2024), an artist's book spanning 40 years that explores the poetics of everyday life, and Tatted (2009), an exploration of South Street, Philadelphia's tattoo community.

mariannebernstein.com