COSMIC WONDER

A periodic visitor marks many years, and many changes, on a certain wondrous planet.

Halley’s Comet, depicted as an anthropomorphized shining orb with a long, flowing tail, sails across multihued skies in Benham-Yazdani’s luminescent paintings—lighting natural landscapes that, over the years, give way to a growing human presence. From two brown-skinned faces peering up from a thicket (“The first time the comet visited Earth, nobody noticed. Well, almost nobody”) to, centuries later, hands painted on a rock wall, scenes depict herders giving way to early cities, 13th-century Mongol warriors charging down a hill, and (in 1607) actors being viewed from above in an open-roofed theater. At last, in 1986, as two children (one dark-skinned, one light-skinned) watch from a beach beneath a smoky, industrial city, space probes surround the comet. They leave it to continue its long orbit, to reflect on Earth, “small and vast all at once, / holding so much life and such great promise,” and to dream of “all it might see the next time.” In closing notes the author identifies specific worldwide settings that she’s depicted, from Argentina’s Cueva de las Manos for the cave art to a traditional Hopituh Shi-nu-mu (Hopi) settlement. In addition to explaining who Edmond Halley was, she puts in a plea to leverage our works and will to “ensure that humanity’s future is bright, not brief.” (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A splendid reminder that past, present, and future are connected.