Chicago artist Alex Chitty has made a lovely, funny, and narratively nice contribution to our understanding of biodiversity through her zine Simplify Your Life (aka The Indomitable Water Bear).Before you even ask what exactly the definition of "indomitable" is, you might also be pondering the following simple question:
Water Bear ??
Well, the water bear is like a lot other mysterious (and perhaps somewhat confusing ) common nomenclature mash-ups for organisms. Take for example: sea lions, monkey flowers, dolphin fish, or potato bugs - likewise, the water bear falls in the category of not exactly what it might sound like. It is not a bear, but a creature maybe vaguely shaped like one that happen to - when lucky - live in the water. Although to be fair the scientific name for these tiny invertebrates - Tardigrades - is no less cryptic. (They are quite cute was they dance through liquid space)
Alex presents us with the opportunity of what it might be like to be a wholly different kind of creature and what (from our ever busy, fragile, and pre-occupied human perspective) living the life of something like tardigrade might feel like.
These are bizarre and tough critters - read all about them:
Click the image below to read it in comic form....
And click HERE to download the PDF as a foldable zine (standard letter size).
oh, and:
Some more wonderful drawing of water bears.
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