In Japanese legend, when a common spider turns 400 years old, it acquires magical powers and becomes a Jorōgumo, a creature that can shapeshift into a deadly, beautiful woman. In Edo period stories, a Jorōgumo is sometimes said to carry its egg-sack disguised as a baby when travelling, and is said to make their nests deep in the forest, in caves, or in abandoned spaces. In this image, we see a Jorōgumo, both resting and watching, beside its greatest treasure: it's children.

The young stellar grouping R136 resides in the Tarantula Nebula (30 Doradus), in the Large Megallanic Cloud orbiting the Milky Way Galaxy. It is the most active and largest starburst (star birth) region in the Local Group of galaxies.

Nude and portrait photography incorporated in this piece are original. Space telescope images incorporated in this piece are in the public domain, courtesy of NASA and the European Space Agency.

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Token Content: https://azurine.art/AZART/00105

Archive: https://github.com/Azurine/AZART/tree/main/00105

Artist Royalty: 30% from sales

Filename: Jorōgumo.png

SHA-256 checksum: 9A5181B226254DF00E9BEE8614536E0BC219227C165BBDF6B4377E3E608124E3

Original Dimensions: 14711 x 14400

Tags: Space, mythology, color, nude, model, portrait, photography

Token Creation Date: 10/27/2020