Basque Mythology

 Presentation Abstract

 "Being Basque means that very few people know what you are or where you come from. It involves pulling out maps, talking about the Pyrenees Mountains, re-pronouncing your last name, and emphasizing that you did not say “bass” like the fish. Pacific’s Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship gave me the opportunity to learn more about my culture while using my discipline as a method to educate others about it. When I started this research journey, my primary focus was to illustrate Basque mythological creatures that have never been illustrated before. During that process, however, I realized that a lot of the mythological creatures were personifications of everyday elements of a Basque person’s life and usually had a story connected to them. Despite regional differences within the Basque country, their folklore showed that the people still had a cultural connection through similar characters, morals, and story lines.The Pacific Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship allowed me to learn so much about my culture and feel more connected to it than I ever thought I would be. This body of work depicts Basque mythological creatures, superstition, and characters from folklore purely based off of Basque artistic elements and writings as most of the subjects have not been depicted before. These subjects are depicted through relief prints, etchings, and drawings."