Two-Headed Turtles

I've had the image of a two-headed turtle, with a variously patterned shell, in my mind for some time. This week I've been making a series of linocut artwork on this subject.





This is a continuation of the series of linocuts embellished with all sorts of beautiful ephemera and Japanese papers. Some of the subjects are imaginary, some are real. The two-headed turtle is in the middle ground. While fantastical there are many examples of polycephaly (multiple-headedness) in turtles. In fact, just yesterday, AP reported on a two-headed turtle born at the San Antonion zoo named Thelma and Louise, an, um, improbably named Texas cooter. Like human conjoined twins, the two-headed turtles result from the failed separation of monozygotic twins. These animals often occur in mythology. The sections of its shell, and lily pads are printed on Japanese washi papers or on the pages of a suminagashi marbled vintage French book. Each multimedia artwork is one of a kind!