A New Refutation of the Viking 4 Space Mission

Peter Mitchell’s groundbreaking show A New Refutation of the Viking 4 Space Mission was first presented at the Impressions Gallery of Photography York in November 1979, and more recently at Arles. 38 years overdue, the body of work was published as a book for the first time by RRB Photobooks. 

In the mid-seventies, the Viking Landers were the first to land on planet Mars. Though the alien landscape was magnificent, there were no canals or skeletons or wind-blown ruined dwellings. Today, not a single trace remains of Viking Landers 3 and 4. 

But myth (and conspiracy theories) have it that an alien survey was commissioned of planet Earth. 

Peter Mitchell’s A New Refutation of the Viking 4 Space Mission features photos and portraits, taken in Leeds in the 1970s. The pictures show the traditional urban landscape presented on a background of space charts, the concept being that an alien has landed from Mars and is wandering around Leeds with a degree of surprise and puzzlement. 

In the Earthly vernacular these photographs are of Nowheresville. Yet, for some people, they are the centre of the universe. Usually they call it Home.