Mariko Mori’s Esoteric Cosmos is the fine art version of the Nickelodeon television series Avatar: the Last Airbender.

This is one of the highest compliments one can pay as Avatar: The Last Airbender is one of the greatest shows to grace television. What the two have in common is their centering around the Earth elements – fire, water, wind and earth. In Avatar, the elements act as classifications for the people of the world, like a nationality. In Esoteric Cosmos, the elements serve as a tool with which Mariko Mori can accentuate the fact that she is completely and utterly bizarre and in all likelihood, an alien.

The piece is made up of four photographs, each displaying a different element of the earth and the artist herself. “In Mirror of Water” (the water one, if you didn’t guess already) “Mori appears as a multitude of futuristic idoru floating, along with a transparent alien head, in a cavernous underworld.” For those who aren’t familiar with '80’s adolescent Japanese culture, an idoru is a young actor or singer marketed for their cuteness. So because there are 11 images of Mori in this photograph, the cuteness level is pretty much out of control. “The mirror-like pool featured refers to the clarity of mind associated with Enlightenment.” Not that we get much clarity from looking at the piece… we’re still scratching our head as to what’s going on in this photo.

Another part of the work is called Burning Desire, which thankfully, though set in a desert landscape and full of spirituality, has nothing to do with Burning Man. “In Burning Desire (1996–1998), four seated figures engulfed in flames levitate above an arid canyon near Huo Yan Shan, or Flaming Mountain, in Xinjiang Province. In the center and slightly above the others, Mori is dressed in a white robe seated cross-legged, encircled by rainbow light.” If you’re thinking that you definitely saw something like this at Burning Man, then you should probably be more careful about your drug use.

The earth and wind photographs both look like they were taken on a different planet. The wind one only hints at it’s placement on earth because of the wind energy windmills, otherwise it looks a lot like Mars. The earth one only hints at its placement on earth because of the water below Mori. There are actual aliens in that one though so I’m not convinced that Mori is human and that this wasn’t taken on her home planet. You heard it here first.