The Totem Series : Vampire Squid & Barnacles

Spellbound, last night, I watched the first of the BBCs Blue Planet II programmes, the BBC at its very very finest.  I never knew that dolphins surfed, that fish could change sex  or leap from the water to take birds out of the air.  Attenborough's child like joy in this most exquisite of habitats almost made me cry.

And this was just about the surface, so much to come, hope they'll be looking deep enough to find my most curious of beasties.  Something about the deep depths and mystery surrounding this creature speaks to something in me.  This close to Hallowe'en you have to have something spooky, and my second print from the Totem series is a living fossil that fits pretty well. 

Vampire Squid moving into defensive mode

Say hello to Vampyrotheusis Infernalis.  The name means literally vampire squid from hell, is an ancient squid deep red in colour that effectively turns itself inside out as a form of defense.  Beaks from similar creatures have been found in the fossilised belly of a Cretaceous plesiosaur.  It has the biggest eyes in relation to body size of any animal and has bioluminescent ends to its tentacles.

Vampire Squid From Hell & Barnacles

Barnacles are definately surface creatures, depending on the tide washing over them to provide the food they sift from seawater.  Their tenaciousness and jaggy nature made an ideal pairing in my mind with the vampire squid to represent that aspect of myself that is hidden from view, the subconscious that we perhaps fear but are also fascinated by.