Kristjana S Williams
Further images
The backdrop: a map of delicate tracery by master cartographer, John Cary, who inked this 1801 piece - later published in his 1808 ‘New Universal Atlas’ - bringing it alive with texture, with beauty, with refinement. Upon this uniquely drawn world, Kristjana casts forward to a post-apocalyptic era beyond humankind when the atmosphere has surrendered to calmness once again and the earth softly hums in pastel shades. We learn animals have triumphed over adversity by means of spectacular evolution. Zebra limbs are elongated and feathered wings have sprouted, owl hearing is razor sharpened, and deer eyesight pierces rocks and distant horizons. Octopuses were pre-designed to thrive here with three pounding hearts, veins run through with blue blood, eight independently functioning arms upon which to stalk the sea beds (impeccably camouflaged) and brains with 500 million nerve cells, capable of learning from experiences of time immemorial.