A Special Coincidence

Despite their differences, the Sun and the Moon appear the same size when seen from Earth, an unlikely phenomenon or a cosmic mystery, that makes total eclipses possible. The multi-channel video essay A Special Coincidence is a looping enquiry into the cyclical nature of time. Combining her father's VHS tapes from the 1990’s with her own footage, sound and ultrasound recordings from her pregnancy, Olga Elliot asks what it means to become a planet, a site of reproduction and extraction. Following her brother’s coming of age through this family archive, she reflects on the mythic siblings, Apollo and Artemis, to approach the lunar imaginaries and colonial legacies that are embedded in the present explorations of the Moon. Moving between scales, the essay traces how different temporalities and bodies — human, celestial, archival — orbit and shape one another.