Inspired by a photo collage art piece from TELEPHONE, this work brings together three eerie animal figures to ponder the weight of mortality. Which parts of the arrangement are alive is up to the reader to decide, but dead or no, there is a haunting about this work. A deadly symbiosis, the deer, the snake, and the spider also harken back to the mythological tales of Achaeon, Medusa, and Arachne. Together, these animal mementos serve as a dire warning: this, mortal, is the consequence of crossing a goddess.

A whale fall is a biological phenomena in which the body of a deceased whale descends to the ocean floor and becomes home to an entirely new ecosystem. Other creatures such as octopodes and fish live off of the decomposing corpse for years. Scientists have even speculated that the final stage of a whale fall could result in the formation of a new coral reef. In this piece, that hypothetical end point is imagined, bridging the gap between the dull tones of the whale’s death and the full brilliant color of a thriving reef habitat.

In the open ocean, the added dimension of extreme depth creates new opportunities and limitations for life. Different aquatic species live side-by-side but at different levels best suited to their adaptations. This dimensionality and layered approach to living may be strange to humans, but it is second-nature to the inhabitants of the pelagic oceans.