This Beautiful Wall Art Is Made Of Bugs

After an extensive renovation, the Smithsonian American Art Museum will reopen its Renwick Gallery with an exhibit called "Wonder." One of the featured artists, Jennifer Angus, created an installation out of something remarkable and unexpected. Her wall art — flowing in decorative patterns, from geometric to a skull — offers a fascinating realization upon closer inspection: It's made of bugs.
Angus primarily used the exoskeletons of bugs she had from Malaysia, Thailand, and Papua New Guinea, working with breeds that are not endangered. Refinery29 talked to Angus about her intent and inspiration behind these mesmerizing insect designs, as well as the process of creating such a massive piece of art. According to the artist, an environmentalist message resides upon these walls. We caught up with Angus to learn about this intention and what it was in the Pacific region that caught her eye, convincing her how beautiful bugs can be.

 

How did you select the specimens you worked with for this exhibit? Exactly what bugs are you using and how many are there?

"I had the skull motif in mind and I think that because those beetles, which are a kind of weevil, are beadlike; that helped me chart out the skull image as if it were beadwork. Also, those are a very beautiful kind of beetle. When they catch the light right, they're iridescent. They look like one thing from a distance, a bit dark, but when you get up close you see their jewel-like qualities. 

"As for the other creatures, they are primarily cicadas. Those make up a large bulk of what I have to work with. I don't use butterflies for the simple reason that they don't stand up to the wear and tear of exhibition. Cicadas are much heartier and they're surprising. I don't think people will necessarily have thought of cicadas as being beautiful before." 

 

"Yes, absolutely! One of the things people have to understand is that I didn't just go out and get 5,000 insects for this exhibition. This is, I'm reluctant to call them, a collection. The weevils are the oldest I have, I've been using them since the mid '90s. Some of these insects are close to 20 years old. They have been gradually culled over the years for me to have that many. In fact, I was thinking about it and there might only be about 200 new insects in this exhibition. 

"Part of the piece is to talk about the environment. That skull is a warning sign. In this case, it's a warning to man about their habitat, but it's also a warning about insects; that every insect on the endangered species list is there because of loss of habitat, not because of collection. I happened to use tropical species and we know how quickly the rainforest is being cut down."

 

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