ENDANGERED: Fine Art & Photography Contest 2019 Submission

A watercolor illustration that captures the humble beauty of sea turtles and their importance for the ecosystems on earth.

In many folklore stories, the earth is described as a flat disk that is held by three elephants who stand on top of a giant turtle. This of course is only a story, but it has a grain of truth in it. Turtles do look like they could hold the entire world on their backs. They have a unique kind of beauty. Slow but strong, majestic yet humble.

A sailor would see only the castle from their ship deck, but if they dive underwater, they will see that the castle is held by a gentle animal who quietly swims to their destination. If the turtle dies, the castle will sink. If the giant turtle who lets the elephants stand on top of it disappears, our entire world will end.

Like all creatures on this earth, sea turtles are a part of a complicated web. If you remove them, whole ecosystems will be thrown off balance. In a way, turtles do hold our world on their backs, along with the lion, elephant, snake, bug, and every other animal or plant.

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