In last week’s blog, I talked about how jellyfish are  invading the oceans. However, their presence is everywhere – even in art. In today’s blog I’ll tell you the story about the Inuit Sedna and her reaction to the invading jellyfish.

First a word about the Inuit Sedna: the goddess of the sea. There are a number of stories concerning how the Sedna – a mermaid and Inuit goddess – was created. One of the legends is that the mythological Sedna originated from a young, unhappily married woman living on an island with her dog-husband. Her father rescued her, but not all went well on their journey home. Furious after discovering that his wife had been kidnapped, her husband transformed into a bird, flew to the boat carrying his wife and her father, and created rough seas by flapping his wings. The storm threatened to capsize the small boat, so her father threw his daughter overboard to save himself (not an admiral paternal move) and chopped off her knuckles (even worse) so she couldn’t hang on the side of the boat and tip it over (ugh!). But then, the pieces of her fingers became the sea mammals, and she became the goddess mermaid of the sea – the Sedna – responsible for providing fish and seals to feed the Inuit people. Much Inuit art features the Sedna, and many stories are built around this legend.

These are strong pieces of art, masterfully done, that make important statements. Jellyfish proliferation affects all of us and has filtered to art, as important issues always do: