Tote bag
A bag for carrying what you don't want to lose: that's a tote. This axolotl tote bag carries Ikal up front, an axolotl facing forward in a red plaid shirt and denim jacket, against a plain background. He's a character from my Animal Kinhood series.
Ambystoma mexicanum
Working the chinampa means caring for the water where the last axolotl lives.
Endemic exclusively to the canals and chinampas of the Xochimilco lake system, in Mexico City, at 2,240 meters of altitude. It inhabits the muddy beds of cold fresh water (between 6 and 20 °C), among aquatic vegetation such as ahuejote and water lily, in low-current zones. Its historic habitat also included the now-extinct lakes of Chalco and Texcoco.
On the bag goes Ikal's portrait: an axolotl with pale pink skin, red feathery gills on either side of his head like a crown, and a wide mouth with that upward curve. He wears the red plaid shirt and the well-worn blue denim jacket. I created him facing forward against a plain background: he's recognizable at a glance when you cross the street or head down into the subway, with nothing around to steal his spotlight.
A tote is, in the end, the bag for the things you decide to carry with you: fruit from the market, a book, your keys. It suits Ikal, because he's the type to hold on to what matters — the names his grandmother left him — and to repair things before throwing them out. Carrying his face up front means carrying a bit of that habit of not letting anything get lost. The rest of who he is lives in his biography.
