Entomological Assemblage

Like a Victorian amateur naturalist, I collected and studied insects that I found in my domestic environment for three years, which involved a number of different locations as I moved house, mostly in urban areas. The insects that I collected became the basis for a series of drawings, depicted in the condition in which I found the specimens. The particular locations within the domestic setting that I found the insects were very typical of their species, and I subsequently identified the specimens based on my drawings.

The drawings are presented framed as a collection and hung with reference to the Victorian practice of 'floor-to-ceiling' hanging; the sizes of the drawings are generally made to be in scale to each other. As befits the nature of a collection that grows through time, the drawings are in a number of different styles of found frames.

These Drawings were made for the exhibition 'Glory Hole' which revolved around Victorian London.

From the Dickensian Gin palaces to the squalor of East end lifestyle, during the turn of the centurys equivalent to our recession struck times.

The works were inspired by the feral pigeons and the men who feed them who although  both much maligned, are an intrinsic part of the area. Pigeons haven't always been considered to be disease ridden pests, Pigeon racing and breeding was once a popular past time due partly to increasing numbers living in urban environments. The Gin Palaces were the meeting places for the swapping of Fancier knowledge, Charles Darwin was one of those who found it very important and was "hand and glove with all sorts of specimens of the human species who fancy pigeons" that research was to become a fundamental part of 'The Origin Of Species'.