SPIDER-LIGHT - 2020

// Taxonomy: Petranea venandilamp - hunting spider-lamp
Habitat (sedentary): Asteroid belts, planetary rings.

These spherical arachnids have numerous special skills. With legs that glow to attract Fae, and an almost impenetrable shell, all these creatures have to do to hide from predators is curl into a ball and turn their lights off. Easily mistaken for small rocks, Spider-Lights opt for similar evasive techniques to many organisms found on Earth. Behaviourally, the spiders are shy but surprisingly quite playful…

This image formed part of my Honours Project for Uni; the depiction of a neo-futuristic civilisation of humans and A.I. living together as equals in harmony. Exploring the depths of deep space aboard a 151 KM long generation starship, they seek to research, learn and evolve together while searching to find wonders that no-one has ever seen. In the thousand years since leaving Earth, the pinnacle of their findings include the successful identification of 8 alien organisms, forming an ecosystem that reaches far beyond the stars…