INSECTS are the inspiration behind a multimedia exhibition in Salisbury.

Insect Odyssey: Insects, Books and the Artistic Imagination has opened at Salisbury Museum and runs until September 25.

It is a multimedia exhibition exploring insects through the interpretations and visual responses of 27 contemporary artists and makers to the publications which, since the 17th century seventeenth century, have documented and illustrated these creatures.

The curators have chosen artists working in different disciplines and media from across the UK and further afield.

The original scientific publications formed the genesis of the investigation, providing a creative challenge and liberating odyssey for the makers involved which includes painters, printmakers, sculptors, ceramicists and jewellers, together with artists working with glass, installation and film.

A small number of existing art works have been included to support the exhibition.

Through a variety of scales, materials, colours and textures employed in the new works, and through the narratives embedded in them, the aim is to draw attention not only to the myriad physical and behavioural characteristics of insect populations, but also to the historical, cultural, and social associations they provoke.

The artists participating in the exhibition are: Julie Ayton, Bridget Bailey, Nicola Bealing, Su Blackwell, Henny Burnett, Tracey Bush, Tess Chodan, Louisa Crispin, Ruth Dresman, Arlette Ess, Tessa Farmer, Susan Francis, Sarah Gillespie, Katy Harrald, Kate Holland, Susan Horth, Kate Kato, Noémi Kiss, Patricia Low, James Morton-Evans, Linn O’Carroll, Peter Randall-Page, Louise Richardson, Lou Rota, KT Rothe, Rhea, Thierstein, and Julieann Worrall Hood.

The show is the brainchild of and curated by Dr Michael Darby, of the National History Museum who was recently noted in the naming of the Greta Thunberg Beetle, Prudence Maltby, Design Historian, and Dr Elisabeth Darby, Sotheby’s and Victoria and Albert Museum.

It is supported by The Royal Entomological Society.

Insect Odyssey hopes to draw attention to the delicacy of our insect populations, and protect the balance between man and nature.

This exhibition will be located in Salisbury Museum’s first-floor gallery and King’s Room.

For more details visit: salisburymuseum.org.uk

 

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