Artist Alice Shirley took one look at the Museum’s giant squid specimen and decided she had to draw it. Life size. Using fresh squid ink.
Watch her unusual painting take shape.
Giant squid were once thought just to be the stuff of stories. Photographs and film footage of live animals are rare even now. So are whole specimens. But together they are gradually revealing the truth about this once mythical creature.
“Scientists have usurped the role that myths once had in our culture, of explaining the world around us,” observes Alice.
But, she adds, “I don’t think that those stories are ever going to leave us. Science is not exactly replacing myth, it’s expanding our understanding of how myths came to be.”
To see the giant squid for yourself, book a place on one of our behind-the-scenes tours of the spirit collection.
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