The Hexapodarium

pigment prints on Moab Slickrock Pearl
41 prints, 16" x 16" each
2014

Flies evolved about 240 million years ago, the housefly 65 million. While sweeping up the flies in my studio after a particularly hot summer, I hesitated over the trash bin, amazed at the resiliency of these little "pests". I photographed their wings beneath a few different microscopes (accounting for the color difference in the final images). Playing around with a single wing’s image in Photoshop, I spun it radially and was shocked that the result looked so botanical.

These are not the glittering diaphanous wings of dragonflies, or the gorgeous windowpanes of cicada wings. These belong to the small, dull, and universally despised common housefly. I wanted to elevate them to a revered state, aware that they are just as much a product of evolution as we are. After discovering that each wing created an utterly unique floral parody when spun, I started perusing botanical texts, looking for more difficult challenges. After daisies and asters and cornflowers came lilies, orchids, arums, and lotuses.

These flies also became the palette for the four seasons in Land of the Flies.