Untitled (Hybrid) Insects

Mixed Media

Untitled Insects consists of seven moth-like insect assemblages that respond to the co-culture of human bone cancer and insect cells. Images of human and insect cell co-cultures are printed onto the wings and corresponding cell palette samples mixed with white pigment have been added to the insects in the form of white dots.

PROJECT DETAILS

This work responds to the artist’s experience of co-culturing human and insect cells. The insects only include limited ‘human’ characteristics (human hair, flesh coloured wing patterns), as the insect cells tended to dominate during the co-culture experiments. The human cells also adapted to the insect cell environmental conditions and even later started to ‘resemble’ the insect cells, becoming increasingly spherical in shape. The moth-like wings of the insects relates to the fact that the insect cells were derived from the fall armyworm, a caterpillar that becomes a moth, but also links to the idea of transformation.
COMPLETED: 2008
MATERIALS: Glass, MDF, Taxidermy Insects, Fixed Cells, Pigment, Enamel, Latex, Human and Synthetic Hair
CLASSIFICATION: Mixed Media