Happy Mermay! Kadal Kanni is part of "Shades of Blue" exhibit

See Kadal Kanni in a diverse collection of blue-dominant art at Camelback Gallery's 2022 Shades of Blue exhibition.

Kadal Kanni is available on various RedBubble products such as laptop skins and face masks.

Merfolk from Around the World (Happy Mermay!)

Merfolk from Around the World from Wolfberry Studio on Vimeo.

Mermaid series prints now available on Storenvy.com

See more prints on storenvy.com.

Duyung

Mermaids appear in the folklore of the Malay world:

• Pulau Duyung (Mermaid Island) in Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia. According to tradition, mermaids once appeared there.
• A folktale from Sulawesi, Indonesia about how mermaids came to be.(CeritaRakyatNusantara.com)
• The Sundanese and Javanese myth of Nyai Loro Kidul, the Queen of the Southern Sea of Java, a deity who can appear in mermaid form.

Available as the following products:

Kadal Kanni

Was inspired to draw a South Asian mermaid after looking at Southeast Asian paintings of mermaids from the Ramayana epic, in which merfolk were deployed to destroy the bridge that Rama was building to Lanka.¹ According to tradition, this bridge started in Rameswaram in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.²

Rama's ally Hanuman and his monkey army laid the bridge. In Indian tradition, Hanuman is celibate,⁴ but in the Thai retelling of the Ramayana, Hanuman fathered a son with Ravana's mermaid daughter,⁵ who had been ordered by her father to destroy the bridge.¹

Sri Lankan author Nadishka Aloysius's YA story Raavana's daughter centers the mermaid princess character from the Ramakien.

Available as the following products:

Jengu

The inspiration for this illustration came from a dear Cameroonian friend who told me fascinating accounts of the worship of miengu (singular 'jengu'), mermaid-like water deities of the Duala and related ethnic groups in Cameroon.¹ My friend also spoke of a similar Mami Wata tradition in neighboring Nigeria.²

This mermaid's accessories are inspired by (but NOT claiming to be an authentic representation of) Duala jewelry from Cameroon and Yoruba jewelry from Nigeria. Marine life in mermaid's environment inspired by (but not intended to be a scientifically accurate representation of ;-) species of underwater life in the Gulf of Guinea.

Available as the following products:

• "Jengu" T-shirt (on Printify)
• laptop skin, laptop sleeve, tote bag, studio pouch, throw pillow (on redbubble.com)
• 8.5"x11" print (on storenvy.com)

Notes

1. Jengu on Wikipedia
2. Mami Wata on Wikipedia