W E T
WET: visual research into sexual attraction to aquatic humanoids in mythology and pop culture.
____________________________________________ Page 2 Relief print of Dagan, an ancient Mesopotamian and ancient Canaanite deity. Page 3 Depictions of Atargatis, great goddess of northern Syria. Also named Derceto, Atargatis is depicted as fish-bodied on both the Damascene coin of Demetrius III and in an illustration from Athanasius Kircher’s Oedipus Aegyptiacus, 1652. Page 4 Drawings of a Sea Devil and Sea Satyr, date unknown, found in the Centre for Fortean Zoology’s archive. Page 5 Various drawings of The Sea Monk (alongside possible source animals) from Was Steenstrup Right? A New Interpretation of the 16th Century Sea Monk of the Øresund by Charles Paxton and Robert Holland. Figures a–c are from Steenstrup (1855), as reproduced in Roeleveld & Knudsen (1980). a. Rondelet’s sea monk. b. A giant Loligo squid as the sea monk. c.The sea monk of Belon. d. A dorsal view of Lophius piscatorius. e. Sluperius’ (1572) sea monk. f. Dorsal view of a female Squatina squatina. g.The sea-monk by Hamer 1546 (1977). h. A reconstruction of an Architeuthis in the same posture and style as Steenstrup’s Loligo. i.The sea monk according to Lycosthenes (1557). Page 6 Triton Blowing on a Conch Shell, Jacob de Gheyn (III) (1596–1641) Page 7 Triton blowing on a conch on the title page of A General Treatise of the Dominion of the Sea, Alexander Justice, Samuel Pepys and Josiah Burchet, 1710 Page 8 Depictions of The Fiji Mermaid, an object comprising the torso and head of a juvenile monkey sewn to the back half of a fish, originally exhibited by P.T. Barnum in Barnum’s American Museum in New York in 1842.The original creation disappeared, presumed to be lost in a fire that destroyed Barnum’s collection. Page 9 Advertisement for the Feejee Mermaid from the Charleston Courier, 1843.
Page 10 Ilya Repin’s Sadko in the Underwater Kingdom, 1876, a depiction of the Russian medieval epic poem Byliny. Page 11 (clockwise) Rhine Maidens, 1910, Arthur Rackham. Depiction of Hindu god Hanuman, and the mermaid, Suvannamaccha in a mural at Wat Phra Kaew, Bangkok. A Mermaid, 1900, John William Waterhouse The Fisherman and The Siren, 1858, Frederic Leighton. Page 12 & 13 Hylas and the Nymphs, 1896, John William Waterhouse. Page 14 - 17 Creature from the Black Lagoon, 1954, directed by Jack Arnold. Page 18 & 19 Gillian Anderson’s and X Files creator Chris Carter in a “Creature from the Black Lagoon” inspired photo-shoot by Mark Seliger for Rolling Stone, Feb. 1997 Page 20 & 21 Creature From The Black Lagoon drag, source unknown. Page 20 Universal Monsters Makeup Series #4: Creature from the Black Lagoon, Drac Makens,published on YouTube May 9, 2015 Page 22 Splash novel cover, inspired by the 1984 movie, written by Ian Don. Page 23 Screencaps from Splash (1984) directed by Ron Howard. Page 24 An illustration from Hans Christian Anderson’s The Little Mermaid, circa 1850. Page 25 Walt Disney Pictures’ The Little Mermaid (1989). Directed by R. Clements. Page 26 & 27 Google search result for ‘mermaid fancy dress’, 2019 Page 28 Mariah Carey hosting her a private Halloween party in 2003.
Page 29 Paris Hilton promoting her ninth fragrance Siren in 2009. Page 30 & 31 Google search result for ‘merman fancy dress’, 2019. Page 32 Doug Jones as Abe Sabian in Hellboy (2004), directed by Guillermo del Toro. Page 33 Screen cap from Hellboy II:The Golden Army (2008), directed by Guillermo del Toro. Abe Sapien and Princess Nuala, 2010, Kioko Misaki (via deviantart.com) Page 34 Concept art for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011), published in the Entertainment Weekly. Page 35 Australian model Gemma Ward as mermaid ‘Tamara’ in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011). Page 36 & 37 Sexy Fish; the asian-inspired restaurant and late night bar, featuring a pair of bronze mermaids commissioned from Damien Hirst in 2015. Page 38 Cover of The Pisces (2018), by Melissa Broder. Page 39 Scanned in page from The Pisces (2018), by Melissa Broder. Page 40 & 41 The Shape of Water (2017), directed by Guillermo del Toro. Page 42 & 43 Google search results for “shape of water sexy” & Amphbian Man alongside Jewel Of The Amazon by XenoCat Artifacts, a Shape Of Water inspired dildo. Page 44 & 45 The Shape of Water (2017), directed by Guillermo del Toro.
/ 10 WET, 2019 Digital edition Typefaces: Gill Sans Ultra Bold, Bold and Italic Printed and bound at Manchester School of Art Bindery Designed, printed and bound by George Grace Gibson