My print is inspired by Adriaen Collaert, "Neptune in a Shell Drawn by Horses" from the RISD Museum. Looking at this print, the sea monsters really captivated me and I started to think about Medieval and Renaissance maps. How sailors’ would recount their experience at sea or the folklore and biblical stories that shaped their worldview were considered primary sources of information for cartographers in trying to portray the world. And so cartographers would put sea creatures to indicate the unknown or a potentially dangerous area to be in. Thinking about this, I wanted to retell the story about how these sailors have mistaken a whale for an island. And when the sailors started to make a campfire, the whale awakened from the heat of the fire causing the whale to dive and dragging the sailors to their doom.
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