This work is part of the Areo Gardens series, which reflects on the surreal and sublime qualities of natural geology throughout the solar system. Each short film depicts a stone sculpture garden on the surface of Mars, apparently defying the laws of physics. These digital representations aim to broaden our understanding of nature to include terrestrial landscapes and to consider the impacts of anthropocentric change beyond the Earth. Here, for example, invisible forces force large boulders to collide in a desert garden.

Areo Gardens II integrates 3D scans of natural rocks and rocks found on a remote hiking trail in Joshua Tree National Park. The scenery is a chain of Martian mountains near the Gale crater, currently explored by NASA’s Curiosity rover. The digital elevation data was obtained through the MRO/HiRise satellite program managed by NASA, JPL and the University of Arizona.