The Earth on Turtle’s Back
Native American creation story
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Turtle Returns the Gift
A traditional Japanese story
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Anansi and Turtle
A Yoruba tale
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The Tortoise & the Egrets
Tibetan Story
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Tortoise shell calendar
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This is my favorite piece in the Cultural Stories series. In this illustration I incorporated several key elements of the story, moon cycle phenomena, and Native American symbolism. The spotted turtle rests upon a traditional medicine wheel depicting the four seasons, each with their corresponding colors and directionality (North, South, East and West). The adjacent four trees also correspond with the seasons, while the outer ring around the medicine wheel depicts the flowing tides, a force of nature which is directly influenced by our moon's cycle. On both the outer edge of the illustration and the outer plates of the turtle one can see depicted the full 28-day cycle of the moon. On the inner plates of the turtle's back, the spots are in a configuration of 1-13, each symbolizing one of the thirteen moons of the year.
