“Solstice Constellation- Cancer”

Another in my constellations series. Cancer means Crab in Greek...

Egyptians described it as Scarabaeus (Scarab), the sacred emblem of immortality. In Babylonia they saw it as a turtle. It doesn’t look like any of those to me, so I focused on the light and dark of the Solstice, since Cancer dates are June 21 – July 22. Cancer includes an “important star cluster known as the 'beehive'. Through an optical telescope, its stars look like a swarm of bees” and contains over 1,000 stars!

12.5” x 16.5” Monotype, tetrapak drypoint, alcohol transfers, collage, vintage 1959 (a very good year-- I was born then!) Antarctica map on Arnhem 1618 paper.

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