By Mike Sain't Louis ·
La despedida: two pink astronauts on a faraway planet
A huge pink planet fills half the sky. Below it, two astronauts. La despedida (The Farewell) has the most space-age cover in this whole batch, and it fits wonderfully with calling my universe PLANETA GAYFOLK.
In the image I appear in the foreground in a metallic pink spacesuit, with patches and a planet emblem on the arm, spiky hair and a fixed gaze. A little further back, another astronaut in the same suit, smaller in the frame, as if a few steps behind. The landscape is all sharp rocks and distant mountains, tinted red and magenta, with stars and a second planet peeking out in the corner.
I really like the contradiction between the title and the image. Two people together, dressed the same, in an unknown place. Who is saying goodbye to whom? Are they saying goodbye to Earth, to a relationship, to a stage of life? Or is one of them staying on that planet while the other goes back?
I won't tell you the ending. Put your headphones on, switch off the light and listen as if you were looking out of the window of a ship moving away.