Eleanor Taylor

i discovered the wonderful work of Brighton based illustrator Eleanor Taylor while catching up with all the goodness over at Design Work Life. the first image of Hawaiian queen Ka’ahumanu really captured my imagination, a piece that Eleanor was commissioned to do for Julia Rothman’s upcoming book The Who, The What and The When: 65 Artists Illustrate the Secret Accomplices of History.

I illustrated Queen Ka’ahumanu, the favourite wife of King Kamehameha I and the most powerful woman of her time in Hawaii.  Upon her husband’s death she donned a feather cape and called herself Queen Regent.  When the missionaries came in 1820 she ended up destroying all the ancient gods and temples leading to the ultimate downfall in a kingdom she helped create.