“Sedna” by Kirsty Greenwood

The cover for Truancy’s inaugural issue has a story, one that is in keeping with the theme of the Issue. Kirsty Greenwood, our Artist-in-Residence, writes:

“Sedna is an illustration inspired by the Inuit creation myth of Sedna, Mother of the Sea – responsible for the life sustaining bounty of the Arctic Ocean. The story is a disturbing one in which Sedna, after falling overboard, has her fingers beaten and chopped off (which turn into whales, walruses and seals) by her father as she tries to climb back on board. Both of them are fleeing the wrath of the evil raven her father married her off to for a dowry of fish. The raven pursues them after she escapes his confinement with the help of her father. Her father, now terrified, is willing to sacrifice his only daughter for his own safety.”

Here’s another account of Sedna’s story: The Legend of Sedna the Sea Goddess.


Kirsty is an illustrator who having exhibited internationally works mainly within the realm of short stories both for print and online publications. With growing experience in all aspects of artwork, her passion is for imagery that accompanies literature based in the surreal, gothic and fairy tales. With the advantage of an illustrative mind-set, Kirsty is motivated by ephemeral visual misunderstanding, transient half-light, ocular strangeness, nightmares, dreams and fleeting glimpses of unreality. Favouring pencil and ink, often mixing with photography and print, Greenwood likes to work intricately to produce detailed phantasmagorias filled with narrative, magic and creatures. Kirsty lives in her native North Yorkshire and is heavily influenced by the rural Dales’ landscape she grew up in and literature, music and Art of all kinds. To see more of her work, please visit http://www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/kirstygreenwood

Kirsty Greenwood is Delinquent Spice & Truancy’s current Artist-in-Residence.

TRUANCY 1, APRIL 2015