The Boy With The Golden Crab

by Michael R Hayter · Bristol, GB

A boy sits in a darkened landscape which appears to be populated by strange white plants - it looks almost like he may be on the seabed, surrounded by pale, floating seaweed. In his arms he cradles a golden crab and he looks down at it as if it is a well-loved teddy bear, perhaps with some consternation because this creature is not soft - at least on the outside....and it can nip with those large pincers. The crab looks back at him, waving its pincers. I think of this image as a stark contrast between the vast, darkened, cold (but for the warm orange of a setting sun) seascape and the tenderness of the boy, in his warm blue sweater, lovingly cradling this precious but "spikey" creature.