EveGriffinArtWork

I made this painting in 2004 while a television across the room from my easel beamed the tragedy of the Asian tsunami around the planet in real time.

 

The design is meant to represent Earth as a planet composed mainly of interconnected oceans, as well as representing the tsunami as a monster, devouring everything in its path. I was thinking of the famous photograph of Earth taken during the Apollo 13 mission that suddenly showed us what an isolated and fragile ball of water our planet is.

 

The dark blue circles at the upper left constitute an eye. Adding an eye to a thing is a device used in northwest coast art to give a thing what I call itness.  Some might use the word spirit instead. The eye makes the tsunami into a being.

​

Beneath the eye, arcing across the design from lower left to upper right, is a row of teeth. These are above the tsunami’s maw which is filled with human faces, bodies, hands, and teeth.

 

Below them is a whirlpool and a wave in the form of a seawolf’s tail.  The Seawolf is another prominent figure in stories indigenous to the northwest coast. Finally, at the bottom, in dark blue, is a whale, also being swept along.