On a San Francisco roof, an artist's work is birthed by the night sky

Artist Ala Ebtekar created a unique installation in San Francisco, working with lunar and starlight to produce cyanotype images that reflect 3.2 billion years of cosmic history. The project, involving photographic negatives from the Hubble Space Telescope, was enhanced by a partial lunar eclipse. Ebtekar's technique uses recipes from the 1842 cyanotype process combined with lunar exposure, producing prints that connect the observer to celestial beauty. Inspired by Persian poet Omar Khayyam, Ebtekar’s work is a meditation on the civilizations witnessed by the moon throughout history.

Ebtekar works with cyanotypes, a camera-less form of photography, allowing lunar light to create prints as it reveals the cosmic history captured in his work.

The patterns on the plates, which appear as mould, are actually a photographic negative showing 3.2 billion years of cosmic history captured by the Hubble Space Telescope.

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