From the land to the sea, we are all connected. For the past nine years, I have focused my research and artwork to illustrate this concept. Through PangeaSeed Foundation, I connected to Melissa Cristina Márquez, who is at the forefront of shark science and kind enough to share some of her research on white sharks with me. In particular, inspiration struck when Melissa shared some research with me about the ecological interactions between white sharks and orcas. Fascinating!
This piece explores the rarely documented intraguild interactions between these top predators while further questioning how these interactions affect the flora and fauna of the land connected to their waters. Because most of the research on this topic is being conducted off the coasts of California at Southeast Farallon Island, a foraging site shared by white sharks and orcas, I decided it would be interesting to incorporate some of the native plants found along the coasts. Specifically correlating to the white shark migratory patterns, I chose to illustrate the native California Poppy and the Saguaro and Opuntia (“prickly pear”) cacti of Baja California Sur.
Additionally, incorporating the Monarch butterfly adds a personal narrative to this piece. Growing up in California, I would look forward to the yearly migration of the butterflies up to Canada and then back down to Mexico. In my adult years, I realized that the monarchs and the white sharks had overlapping migratory patterns along our coasts. It was a delight to illustrate them together in a piece like this for PangeaSeed Foundation.
I hope this piece is a reminder of our shared connection to ALL life on this planet. I also hope that by adding a bit of whimsy and a sprinkle of imagination, this piece will inspire more artists and more people to get involved in scientific research and research communication. This world is full of mystery and magic. From the land to the sea, we are all connected.
Marissa Quinn
