The universe of insects (INSECTAE) is distant and intertwined to ours at the same moment. As we place our observations more closely, this world begins to evolve full of beauty, horror and uniqueness. Making contact to this universe often leads to fatal misunderstandings and the beauty can most of the time only be seen when we are close. Inspired by entomological drawings, the series of ultra large format photographs INSECTAE tries to uncover the geometries and perfection of those creatures that are living among us but certainly are not always welcome.
Using the wet plate process for this series leads to technical obstacles. The main tool for this series is a beautiful, over 120 years old and bulky wooden studio camera that allowed a bellows extension of nearly two meters and finally make contact to the specimen.
The pure silver on the 40x50cm tintype photographs glows as a result of this approach, the shallow depth of field, a magnification ratio of 4:1 conserve the fragile beauty of the insects.
The work will be shown in Vazerol14 gallery in November 2022.