Mothra In Utopia, Kari (Marigold) Cadenhead

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Mothra In Utopia | Arts_Department_001

Kaiju_Love_Care_Futures_02026 | April 17, 02026

We are pleased to present the very first artwork by the Godzilla Mission Arts Department. The mandate of the Godzilla Mission Arts Department is to create art that imagines what the future might look like if humankind were to implement some of the lessons and themes outlined in the Godzilla Mission Field Reports. These might be illustrations of the futures themselves, or imagined artifacts that exist in these futures.

MOTHRA IN UTOPIA

FROM THE ARTIST:

For this piece, I chose to focus on Field Report No. 5: Five lessons for humanity from Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964) regarding greed, abolition, lifecycles, the virtue of being stubborn, and eggs.

I wanted to represent a future in which Mothra is a respected goddess-figure, cohabitating safely alongside human civilizations, both thriving in beauty. I ran with the (obvious) Egg Theme and made that the focus of the artwork. I imagined what it would be like if Mothra were able to live in a beautiful public park space near a kind human civilization, as if she were a respected goddess, protected from physical and ecological dangers. - Kari (Marigold) Cadenhead

ABOUT THE ARTIST:

Who are you?

I am a multi-disciplinary artist, mother, and proud weirdo. I currently live in Tucson, Arizona, and work in arts administration while pursuing an Anthropology degree. Nature is my religion, I'm fluent in community care, and I consider myself an activist on several levels. I am a caretaker for many reptile (and reptile-adjacent) animals, so I feel the Godzilla Papers is an excellent project to be part of.

What has been your experience working on Mission Kaiju_Love_Care_Futures_02026?

So far, this has been a fun project to mull over while going about the daily grind of life in the present world. Imagining a future in which we all take care of one another is the only way to get there, and I'm very happy to be participating in that. I've already learned that I never do enough art.

Members of the public can access and support Kari’s work at the following links:

Instagram | Website | LinkedIn | Substack | Bluesky

WHAT’S NEXT?

From the Mission’s Research Methodology:

Co-Creating New Possibilities: The Field Office and Mission HQ will partner to host in-person and virtual Community Sensemaking sessions. These sessions will center around community Backcasting exercises.

We are planning on facilitating six sensemaking sessions (five for each era of Godzilla films, one for the entire franchise) between Summer 02026 and Fall 02027 to answer the question: “what will it take to achieve a version of these imagined futures?”

The hopeful outcome of these sessions is an understanding of what we can change or adopt now in order to make these futures more likely. Members of the public may register their interest in participating in these sessions here.

WANT TO IMAGINE THE FUTURE(S) WITH US? JOIN THE GODZILLA MISSION ARTS DEPARTMENT!

Access the Creative Brief at this link!

If you choose to accept the brief and wish to join the Arts Department Discord, please let us know at thegodzillapapers@gmail.com.