DLR Journal


We are thrilled to share 3 art pieces along with their rationale by talented artist Allison Akers.

EMBODIED UTOPIAS AND DYSTOPIAS

Featured Artist: Allison Akers

For my artwork, I 

wanted to focus on 

creatures that may not 

often be associated 

with utopia, but that 

I took to represent 

utopian and dystopian 

ideals both from 

the way I designed 

them and their 

representation in 

nature, literature, film.

Sting, 2018, Ink, 4x4 in.

Sting takes inspiration 

from the cover photo 

of the DLR. Jellyfish 

have always seemed 

otherworldly and 

beautiful to me, much 

like idea of utopia. 

However, many 

are also capable of 

stinging and inflicting pain, making them dangerous and deadly 

creatures. A single person’s idea of utopia may be suppressive and 

harmful to other people, much like a jellyfish’s tentacles do not hurt 

itself but will paralyze and ensnare the prey it needs to survive. One 

jellyfish, the Turritopsis dohrnii, is even immortal, which I related to 

utopian and dystopian concepts that have persisted for thousands of 

years. I used black ink to capture the jellyfish’s slick appearance and 

to reflect the darker, less moral actions that are often associated with 

achieving a “utopia” on Earth.

“Sting”

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162

AKERS

The Modern Siren also 

takes similar inspiration 

to the jellyfish’s themes. In 

Greek mythology, sirens 

were bird-women who 

enchanted sailors with 

their songs and drove ships 

into rocks, but over time 

sirens were conflated with 

mermaids into their modern 

incarnations. I like to think 

of utopias as modern sirens. 

Utopia is alluring, and many 

characters in literature and 

film want/try to achieve 

it, but often utopias are 

warped by human flaws 

into monstrous, corrupt 

dystopias. It is easy to stare 

at the siren’s beautiful face, 

listen to her enchanting 

voice, but her more sinister 

features should not be 

ignored. Utopia also means 

“no place,” which I also 

related to my siren, since it 

is a creature that does not

The Modern Siren, 2018, Ink, graphite, and marker, 9 in x 12 in.

“Ѕiren”

exist. Since green is often associated with life and safety, my siren 

has a pale green tail and markings coupled with black to represent 

death and danger. She also strikes a dynamic, confident pose, 

smiling directly at the viewer in an inviting way.



163

AKERS

Artificial Beauty, 2017, Ink, 5 x 5 in.

“Artificial Beauty”
Unlike the other two pieces, Artificial Beauty embodies how mankind alters and mimics nature, 

shaping it to create utopia but often falling short of nature’s perfection. In class last semester, we 

examined nature-centric utopias such as Of the Cannibals by Michel de Montaigne and The Tempest 

by William Shakespeare, which gave me the idea to submit this piece. The lack of color in the butterfly 

emphasizes the lifelessness of the butterfly, and the negative space in its wings, thorax, and abdomen 

allude to the idea of it being a hollow, manmade imitation of a real butterfly.