With the Wind

2019

Materials:Butterfly, moth, gold, natural lacquer, etc.

Every summer, large numbers of moths and butterflies are drawn off their original flight paths by artificial light, becoming trapped inside buildings and dying after repeated collisions with glass, walls, and light fixtures. These small deaths are difficult to notice, yet they continue throughout the summer nights of modern cities. Insects shaped by a long evolutionary history now find themselves trapped by the lights of a comparatively brief human civilization.

Every summer, I collect the bodies of these insects killed by light pollution. Like a mortician, I tend to their remains, using the traditional craft of kintsugi to repair their damaged wings and bodies with lacquer and gold.