I just finished reading Where the Crawdads Sing.
You know, the book that just catapulted into the stratosphere when Reese Witherspoon added it to her book club back in 2018. The author, Delia Owens, just appeared along with Reese on CBS News Sunday Morning in a beautiful feature about her life, the book, and making the movie (which just landed in theaters. The cinematography looks absolutely stunning based on the stills from the film in this Vanity Fair First Look article.
I really identified with Kya, the main character in Crawdads, not because I can in any way relate to the way she was abandoned as a kid by her family, living alone in a shack with no electricity in the marshy “wastelands” off North Carolina’s coast, nor can I relate to being completely isolated like she mostly was. But I did run around dirty and barefoot as a child, looking for creatures and mystical things in the woods and creek behind our house. And I do collect feathers like she did (I’m about to start a new series using them) and I’m completely interested and engrossed, as she was, in the native plants and animal species that live and grow in my coastal Florida environment--a landscape which is very similar to the forests, marshlands and beaches that surround Kya in the book.
As the story progresses Kya documents her environment in great detail, drawing, painting and labeling the native shells, birds, plants and animals, eventually getting them published in illustrated books. She understands that the marsh and the waterways are vital and should be protected, and that “draining wetlands dries the land for miles beyond, killing plants and animals along with the water.”
I’m hopeful that I can also use my own art to shine a light on the ecological beauty of the Florida landscape and its creatures. Irresponsible development of land in my area has resulted in swaths of clearcut land, displacing animals and uprooted centuries-old trees and forests with seemingly no regard for the long-term consequences. I just learned that Sandhill Cranes once nested in great numbers where my own neighborhood now sits. A few times a year I’ll spot a lonely pair wandering around, probably looking for the wetlands behind the houses on my street in the “preserve” area that is never supposed to be built on (and I sincerely hope it is not). Black bears have been spotted in many of my neighbors’ yards over the last few years as more land is cleared to make way for more neighborhoods and shopping centers at an alarming rate. Bears have even been spotted running down the main drag of my very suburban neighborhood! I worry about these animals as they try to safely find new homes.
We can do something to strike a balance. We can plant native plants in our yards. We can educate ourselves about natural plant and animal habitats and how we can help preserve and protect them. Art is a great way to show people the beauty of the land and its creatures in a more personal and intimate way, like artist Kathy Stark (IG: @wildparksnfl) does with her large-scale watercolors of our Florida parks. See more of Kathy's work here.
Tom Schifanella is another amazing artist who captures the Florida waterways and wildlife beautifully in his work. Some of his spectacular photographs, like the one pictured above on the cover of his book Sacred Waters, can be seen here. Follow Tom on Instagram (@tom.in.abf) to see his gorgeous videos of the Florida landscape and springs.
As for me, I’m seeing Where the Crawdads Sing with a friend—the same friend who lent me the book—on Friday. I’m hopeful that Kya’s art onscreen lives up to what I’ve imagined it will look like while reading the book. In the meantime, I’m filling up a sketchbook with feather drawings. And I’d love to hear your thoughts on how we can strike a better balance as humans living within our natural environments.
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