Insects in Art, and Humans in Nature

This article takes a look at contemporary artwork featuring insects as a primary symbol for addressing environmental distress and ecological change. What I find particularly interesting about this article is that I believe the more potent takeaway is framing humans as an invasive species, which tends to be an overlooked viewpoint in the broader topic.

“Humans are reshaping the planet in impressive, and impressively self-destructive, ways. Evidence and awareness of our environmental impact have failed to elicit meaningful change in reversing our behavior. A multifaceted approach to communicating human-induced environmental destruction is critical, and art can affect our behavior by its power to evoke emotions. Artists often use insects in their works because of our intimate and varied relationship with this diverse, abundant lineage of animals. We surveyed work by 73 artists featuring insects or insect bodily products to gauge how extensively artists are addressing anthropogenic environmental distress, and what insects they are choosing as subjects in the process” (Klein, 2022)

“The human aptitude for modifying environments has become a hallmark of our species. As a result of this talent, we have doubled our average life expectancy in the last 200 years. Over the last 50 years, the global economy has grown nearly fourfold and extreme poverty has declined by over 50%. The successful altering of environments and corresponding advances in medical technology have resulted in an explosion of the global human population to almost 8 billion. As remarkable as these developments are, they have come at a frightening ecological cost. Drastic changes in human population and resulting economic growth have increased demand for energy and materials at an alarming rate“ (Klein 2022)

“A growing number of individuals are turning to art to help raise public awareness of topics related to environmental destruction. Art’s ability to evoke emotions while encouraging dialogue may serve as a powerful tool in communicating the importance of the environment." (Klein 2022)

Review

While the main focus of the article centers around artistic representation and the choice to use insects as symbols and representations for environmental change, I believe that the opening subtext addressing humans themselves behaving as an invasive species is a very important viewpoint to consider when looking at the invasive issue. That is not to say that we must remove ourselves from where we don’t belong, but rather take a responsible and developed stance by observing what we are doing to our environments and how we can either reduce our own impact or redirect our impacts so as to produce better results for the environment that we inhabit.

References

Klein, B. A., & Brosius, T. (2022). Insects in Art during an Age of Environmental Turmoil. Insects, 13(5), 448. https://doi.org/10.3390/insects13050448