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Artworks

Love Before the Colonization of Mars, 2004

  • Artist

    William Villalongo

  • Title

    Love Before the Colonization of Mars

  • Date

    2004

  • Medium

    Acrylic and paper collage on velvet

  • Dimensions

    77 1/4 × 96 1/4 in. (196.2 × 244.5 cm)

  • Credit line

    The Studio Museum in Harlem; Museum purchase made possible by a gift from Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn

  • Object Number

    2004.13.6

Love Before the Colonization of Mars presents a violent fictional history of Mars. In the background, silhouetted flying saucers and fighter jets engage in combat. The “love” depicted is really a rampant lust erupting amid explosions and a decapitated Martian corpse. Though seen through the lens of science fiction and quite fantastical, Villalongo’s imagined scene of colonial violence on faraway Mars brings to mind the very real histories and violence of colonization on Earth.


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Artworks

Love Before the Colonization of Mars, 2004

  • Artist

    William Villalongo

  • Title

    Love Before the Colonization of Mars

  • Date

    2004

  • Medium

    Acrylic and paper collage on velvet

  • Dimensions

    77 1/4 × 96 1/4 in. (196.2 × 244.5 cm)

  • Credit line

    The Studio Museum in Harlem; Museum purchase made possible by a gift from Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn

  • Object Number

    2004.13.6

Love Before the Colonization of Mars presents a violent fictional history of Mars. In the background, silhouetted flying saucers and fighter jets engage in combat. The “love” depicted is really a rampant lust erupting amid explosions and a decapitated Martian corpse. Though seen through the lens of science fiction and quite fantastical, Villalongo’s imagined scene of colonial violence on faraway Mars brings to mind the very real histories and violence of colonization on Earth.


Explore further