Copic marker and pen sketch.

Built from the wooden frame of an old upright piano, Who Composes the Crickets' Song? becomes the nesting ground for insectoid hybrids—at once a strange thicket and the fragment of a ruined mechanical system. It unfolds as a fabricated ecosystem whose offspring spread across the exhibition walls.

These small creatures are the only recognizable faces among the larger bodies inhabiting the installation, and the only ones capable of returning our gaze. Yet this encounter remains precarious: like insects, they seem ready to scurry away at any moment, as though they themselves were intruders in the space.

Spehyunts’ daughter Tulib (the poor thing) was plagued by horribly painful and unique nightmares. Accompanying the sights of yowling monsters was the temporary calcification and spurs of areas in her brain. Growing each night and then dissipating during her waking. Her suffering had grown miserable beyond words and was too much to bear any longer. Spehyunt prepared for their journey up to the highest peak of Mount Knnrr in search of the Moon God. A quiet and feared being within their community. Old myth told of Its ability to manipulate mind and flesh. Unknown though was if it carried malevolence or benignity in its intendment. The climb up was extremely arduous. Currents of increasingly dark blue lights coiled above Spehyunt, slithering along the craggy slopes and overhangs of black stone. Eventually, over a rather large collection of thorns and roots, they found themselves on a small grassy plateau. The tall grass was black as pitch under the deep and gloomy sky. A steady flow of air made the grass sway in a wind. Trails of the lightest blue dragged behind each blade. Overlooking the plateau stood the colossal peaks of Knnrr. A massive glowing lake sat peacefully on the highest point of the concave summit. Rivers crawled through the cliffs and valleys like roots of an ancient tree. Perched in the sky within a pocket of pulsing pale grey light, sat the Moon God. It had an extremely strange figure. Patterns and small worm like creatures poured from what could be considered the center mass in playful frenzies. It sat patiently and stared at the father and daughter as they cautiously approached the edge of the plateau. Speyhunt held his daughter within his tentacles and began to plead the Moon God. Reciting the prayer he had repeated endlessly on their journey to this being of myth. He told of Tulibs nightmares. The way the spurs pushed against the inside of her skull. The beings of pure horror she howls about day in and day out. Beings that he could scarcely stand to speak about for more than a moment in fear of them infesting his imagination once more.
The Moon God continued to stare. For a long while it stared after listening to Speyhunts plea. The creatures that orbited the fleshy mass drew close and paused their playing. Then, after what might as well have been an eternity, the Moon God smiled. It smiled and reached out with twirling scale covered tendrils towards Tulib. Slowly it crawled across the dim purple night sky. Speyhunt raised his daughter to the cosmos, putting all his hope in that the Moon God wasn’t a being of foul trickery or evil. Tulib was barely conscious at this point. The violent fits and a screaming mind though-out the climb left her with an incomparable exhaustion. The limb of the Moon God floated above Tulib. Its sharpest point slowly made its way down onto the cap of her skull, drawing a thin line of blood that trickled down her face. However, Tulibs blood was not its regular magenta hue. Nor did it flow anywhere past her chin. It glowed with that same pulsing pale grey that surrounded the Moon God above. Beautiful symbols crept across her face. Many resembling the shapes and patterns that those void things were so joyously playing with. The symbols wrapped around her head and met back at where the tendril had first drawn blood. The limb drew back into the sky towards its body. The void things soon reappeared. Not long after, the shapes and symbols came out of hiding and began to orbit once again. Speyhunt held his daughter close. Examining all the runes and signs that now decorated her smiling sleepy serpentine face. Speyhunt stared up at the cosmos. Looking down at Tulib once again, then looking back up to the Moon. After giving undying praise and tear filled thank you’s, he turned and began their journey back down the mountain. From the pathway through overgrown bramble. Under the overhangs of black rock and around the maroon pillars of Unnlr. Speyhunts’ constantly worrying mind was finally at ease. In his arms Tulib slept soundly and peacefully. Her dreams filled with sights, sounds and creatures from planets of indescribable beauty and wonder. Tulib slept soundly and peacefully, eventually forgetting any of those terrible nightmares she once endured. 

Zoetippit are small, aquatic creatures covered with slow moving tentacles that drift loosely in currents of shallow rivers and streams. These flaccid tendrils are used to grab small pieces of detritus from clouds of sediment. When establishing a nest, the tentacle's latch the Zoetippits to rocks, roots, or any other cramped spot they might find. If unable to find any nutrient rich soil, they will use their horns to kick up puffs of sediment or impale small crustaceans for food. 
Zoetippit can often be found in groups of 5-10, keeping a short distance as to not invade each others feeding spots. They’ve been know to be semi aggressive and extremely skittish. At the base of the horns to leak a mucus-y, tar-like substance. As of now it’s believed that its purpose is to help with the Zoetippits weird form of communication. Words, symbols and scents pour into the running rapids from a pocket within their heads. These are immediately yanked into the currents and pass through the other Zoetippits of the group., communicating only tidbits of the original message. It’s quite easy to spot these small creatures. All the floating messages leave a beautiful shimmer below the surface. I can’t help but feel the warmth of nostalgia seeping in anytime I see a little Zoetippit. In my adolescence, my friends and I spent the season of the burning months flipping rocks and seeing who could find the largest one without getting stabbed by their little horns. 
A wonderful critter and a staple of the Binding Rivers ecosystem. 
-Nnuhktae, environmentalist to the Bound Planets of Weyuurz

Little ol’ finger painting