AnthropoPangaea (Hapalochlaena lunulata), 2022
Acrylic paint, embroidery and wool on linen, 131.5 × 264 × 4.5 cm
Depicting a land and oceanic mass predating nation-states and borders inspired by Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion maps, AnthropoPangaea (Hapalochlaena lunulata) is a hybrid term invented by the Shezad Dawood: one which at once references the anthropocene, the modernist Brazilian poet and critic Oswald de Andrade’s manifesto of cultural cannibalism - or anthropophagism -, and the supercontinent Pangaea, from the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras.
This major textile painting was rug-hooked and tufted by Fogo Island artisans Lillian Dwyer and Sheila Paine, who Dawood met while in residence at Fogo Island Arts in 2019. The work is hand-painted by Dawood with elements of the striking, highly venomous blue ringed octopus, delving into geological time to cast a prompt for the future: a joined up world composed of hybrid landscapes held in a tentacular embrace, journeying onwards into new ecological configurations.