The illustration depicts the Song's heroine, reimagined as a pre-colonial Mi'kmaw woman, holding an oil lamp as she wanders through a village of unfamiliar basket-like structures - actually medieval Celtic roundhouses.

Materials: pen and ink, gouache, imitation gold leaf and metallic pen on paper

This is the latest example in a translation, design, and development process that's spanned about a year and a half thus far - it's not perfect, but it's the first one I feel okay about maybe sharing publicly. I'm actually quite happy with how the gold leaf / metallic inks turned out here!

Proof of concept for a very special piece of cross-cultural art I'm making for (and in heavy consultation with) @sheisholyshadow.bsky.social! It's a Mi'kmaw translation/adaptation of the biblical Song of Songs (pictured: chapter 3, verses 1-5), on its way to someday becoming an illuminated book.