Betelgeuse begins with the first contact between two bodies that become linked by a long-distance bond. Alternatively named Alpha Orionis, Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star in the Orion constellation nearing the end of its life – an uncertain but imminent death that draws parallels with the experience of first love.

Taking refuge in this ideated world, non-spaces come into existence where queerness can be afforded the hardships of love beyond hostility. It then becomes possible to consider the question that surfaces post-marginalisation: to what degree did this trauma unite us? Regarding my lover as a polar opposite, the borders in-between disintegrate and surrender our couple to a singular form which, once embodied, can be imagined as a vessel for transgressing the frustrating conditions of identity.

The Orion star poises between two states of non-being, occupying a transient space of fabrication and confession. A certain coyness marks the lingering desire in Betelgeuse; the vulnerable body describes a necessity for closure with the universe, nomadically searching for liberation while seducing an unearthly solitude in the process.

Beyond the self, new geological and astronomical possibilities are explored through the creation of a model of the earth where infrastructures have evaporated and colour floods landscapes affected by an unspoken cataclysm. The potential for regeneration and clarity in ruin is recognised through this retreat to a vestigial Arcadia. Betelgeuse fleetingly grows into an Eden of its own, bearing the blooming, nakedness, and devastation of first love.

At its core is an ingenuous fantasy in transcending physicality alongside someone beyond the limitations of time and distance – to become one with them – until these conditions are finally accepted and the beauty in them understood.