Goblin Market in the Bosque

Watercolor illustrations and Ink paintings for a re-imagining of Christina Rossetti’s poem “Goblin Market” from 1862

This series of illustrations was created to illustrate the events and characters of the poem “Goblin Market” by the Victorian writer Christina Rossetti, though with a twist.

I instead reinterpreted the poem within the setting, history, plants, animals, and traditions of New Mexico. I redesigned the characters of Lizzie and Laura to wear blackwork embroidery dresses, wool rebozos and skirts, and embroidered hair ribbons. The setting is no longer England, but the New Mexican bosque forest and desert full of cacti, winter grasses, and animals like the javelina, coyote, and sandhill crane. The goblins are the desert animals, and the rich designs throughout are inspired by the rich and long history of New Mexican colcha embroidery.

Ultimately though, the poem’s unique ecogothic atmosphere and exploration of darkness, womanhood, monstrosity, well being, connection, and freedom, remain in this new visual adaption and exploration.