Naiads of the New World
Classically educated Europeans who mapped the New World would have been familiar with river nymphs from ancient Greek mythology. The bodies of these Naiads passively occupy waterways renamed during the colonization of North America, marking silent passage from millennia of “uncharted territory” to the eradication of indigenous cultures, and extensive environmental changes, that began during European exploration and settlement.
Ink and pencil on archival reproductions of North American colonial era maps. Sizes variable. 2018-2019.