In 79 AD, the ancient Roman city of Pompeii was completely buried in ash by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, then completely forgotten until it was rediscovered in the mid-18th Century. Many of its citizens attempted to flee but few made it.

This image is a fanciful telling of a fugitive from Pompeii who dove into the sea and was changed by the god Neptune into an octopus. He now drifts in the depths forever, dreaming of his former life.

This work in mixed media is conceived to convey many different senses of the ancient. From the classical world there are traditions of fresco and mosaic, and from the post-classical era the traditions of illumination and ultimately the earliest printing presses; all of these informing the choice of materials converging in this work. Together these bring a sense that this art object might be found preserved in a museum, an artifact unearthed by archaeologists, displayed to teach us about cultures of long ago.