If you go down to the woods today, you might find Rokovoko II

By Carol Healy – View Artist’s Profile ➤

Rokovoko is the fictional island in the south Pacific Ocean in Hermann Melville’s novel MobyDick, home to Queenqueg the tattooed cannibal who sailed onboard the Pequod.

While in the woods one day I was drawn to the lines and markings of the birch trees. I traced and mapped small sections of the bark, a journey begins, a connection to place takes root, a fantastical world beckons me in. I go there, the veil is thin, I have one foot in this world and the other touches down on the layers of memories, imaginings, and daydreams of places I’ve been and never been.

“It is not down in any map, true places never are.” Herman Melville.