The Ghost Map

1452 px * 2224 px; Digital Art (ProCreate); 2021

This illustration is an adaptation of one of my favorite novels, The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson. This story was based on the true history of John Snow, a British doctor known for tracing the source of the cholera outbreak in London in 1854 and thus pioneered geographic epidemiology, marking a significant improvement in public health around the world. In this illustration, I portrayed John Snow as a detective because investigating the source of the epidemic resembles that of detectives in mystery novels. I set the St. Paul's Cathedral as the background to indicate the event's location in London. Besides, as eventually, John Snow realized that the agent of spreading cholera is the contaminated water system, he demanded to remove the handle of the water pump that connects to the water system, which helps alleviate the epidemic. To represent this vital plot in the story, I also added the water pump in my illustration.