Listening to the Earth Puzzle

285 piece (12" x 16.5”) puzzle featuring the Listening to the Earth painting by Naima Penniman that is the cover image of Black Earth Wisdom, a new book by Leah Penniman that “weaves together the voices of today’s most respected Black environmentalists, those who have cultivated the skill of listening to the lessons that Earth has whispered to them.” 

The puzzle comes in a Kraft Cylinder Box with the final image stickered on it.

Artist Statement: 

Listening to the Earth is a visual love song attuning to the voices of nature.

We are listening to the Earth as we would our beloved, to her uncontainable joy and her unimaginable wailing.

On this full moon, this human being who is all of us, is dissolving into the landscape. As she holds her ear on the rim of the horizon, her hair becomes roots reaching deep into the soil, her crown becomes water descending into tributaries, her chest opens to the midnight sky. 

At this crossroads of peril and promise, the Earth is our beacon and compass, offering models for metamorphosis, blueprints for symbiosis, and frameworks for evolution. 

The creation of this piece was a meditation, crafted at the base of a tree, on the top of a mountain, by candle light and sunlight. May it inspire deeper listening.