Science and fiction inspired reaseach


The paper cut silhouette I made of the dragonfly reminded me of a faerie and got me thinking about the fantasy and magical aspect of nature, so many science fiction monsters are generally just really enlarged insect type creatures, and faeries are humanised insects/ tiny humans with wings.
Nature is the real magic that is all around us, and humans being the parasites that we are, take from it and try to control is and reason with it and humanise it.
I'm interested in the Victorian era of natural history, the advances with science that started to challenge religion. Separating fact from fantasy
 Charles Darwin, the idea of collecting and cataloging these natural curiosities.
My idea will involve blurring those lines to create my work.
Here are some images and artists I'm taking inspiration from;


















"The Cottingley Fairies"
In 1917 two school girl, cousins claimed to have  photographed fairies in their garden, in Cottingley near Bradford.five photographs  they captured the attention of the public and writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyal. While many poeple suspected it was fake ,It wasn't until the 1980s that Elsie and Frances  admitted it was a hoax made with cardboard cut outs from a children's book. 



Vivian Leigh as"Titania" Queen of the fairies from  A mid Somers Night Dream

 

"Manan" by Loiuse Bourgeois. A example of enlarging an insect type form to create a monster, in this case; a protective mother spider. I love the drama of this massive sculpture.

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