The passage speaks of the parity between the body and the soul, and an astronaut (the physical) in space (the ethereal) lends itself to this idea. The passage also celebrates motherhood, and most astronaut suits have the bodily proportions of an infant, so when I added the hose it naturally suggested an umbilical cord. An added bonus is that this passage also talks about the equality of men and women, and the astronaut suit hides the sex of whoever is wearing it.
This spread comes after a cluster of pages that are very dense, so I decided to open it up a bit visually, keep it simple so that the viewer’s eye can rest and pause before pressing on.
Allen Crawford is an illustrator, designer, and writer. He and his wife Susan are proprietors of the design/illustration studio Plankton Art Co. Their most notable project to date is the collection of 400 species identification illustrations that are on permanent display at the American Museum of Natural History’s Milstein Hall of Ocean Life. Under his pseudonym, Lord Breaulove Swells Whimsy, he wrote, designed, and illustrated The Affected Provincial’s Companion, Volume One, which was optioned for film by Johnny Depp’s production company, Infinitum Nihil. He lives in Mt. Holly, NJ.
Walt Whitman (May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works.
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