Scientist Ruth Eriksen sends satellite data and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEMs) that I am tracing to make an animation that combines the scientific data with stories of creatures moving south as our oceans are heating.
Ref. ‘The marine planktonic dinoflagellate Tripos: 60 years of species-level distributions in Australian waters’. Gustaaf Hallegraeff, Ruth Eriksen et al. 2020
Here’s the plan:
1. Paint the ocean.
2. Paint the points where data are collected, of changes in distribution and abundance of creatures.
3. Paint and animate the points to show who’s moving where.
4. Paint and animate the creatures large to show how diverse and beautiful they are.
Plans are all very well, but this creature cried out to be painted first, before plotting the points of data collection. Now I can’t draw from life directly, so I trace and imagine Tripos digitatus, a dinoflaggelate dancing at Deeban (Tharawal name for Port Hacking).