CISU: Illustrations

The Council on Interspecies Understanding facilitates interaction between mankind and emerging sentient animals on Earth. CISU presents the breadth of human life (good, bad, individual, and collective) in a visual language which a highly evolved animal could understand. View the full project here.

The illustratons below depict universal concepts that derive from common human mythologies; Beauty, Sacrifice, Fire, Hero, Civilization, Deluge, Dissatisfaction, Unbelonging, and Unknown. These ideas are accompanied by a map that explores related concepts.

The colors red, black, and yellow were chosen because they are clearly visible to most intelligent species. They are used by patterned animals for their high contrast, and they are the first colors named when languages develop. The wide-set eyes of the illustrated figures correspond to prey or pacifist personality, while centered triangular eyes represent predator and aggression.