Originally posted April 24, 2006
I had just finished posting about the crocheted coral reef when “The Women’s Post” – it’s a free local newspaper- arrived with an article about The Museum for Textiles here in Toronto. It seems that the museum is hosting the work of Wisconsin-based artist Jennifer Angus who has displayed her personal collection of 15,000 Southeast Asian insects (some have to be S.E. Asian cockroaches) on the walls of the museum as textile designs. The bugs are precisely arranged in patterns to emulate designs from Japanese, Egyptian and Indian textiles. I did not say “It’s enough to drive you buggy” – someone else did.
Yes Virginia, every spot or line you see is actually a bug – amazing!
http://www.textilemuseum.ca/exhibitions_terriblebeauty.html
To see more use this link and click on the photos of the bugs!
The time taken to mount the exhibition alone is awe inspiring. The fact that these are actually preserved insects, may reach the sublime. Jennifer’s message is: Preservation of the Rainforests. These bugs apparently play a vital role in preserving the rainforests because they reproduce very quickly pollinating flowers and decomposing matter to keep the rainforests alive, vibrant and disease free. I presume that they were harvested after their work had been done to play yet another role in sending an environmental message, through Art, around the world.
I have a pattern for a knitted butterfly. I wonder if you could knit a few hundred of these and assemble them as a wall hanging with a message. Ooops, just added another must do before I die project – that probably makes 857 give or take a few. Now where is that pattern or the beginning of the list, for that matter?
Enjoy!