Monument is the culmination of a five year process of collecting, pinning, and gilding insects found within and around domestic spaces. The use of gold draws attention to the beautiful and complex structures of the insect body - the veins in the wings, the textures of the thorax, the banding on the abdomen.
 Arranging them in constellated patterns determined by maps made of the spaces where the bodies are found (light fixtures, window sills, nearby sidewalks, etc.) is a nod to particular relationships between animal science, mythology, economics, ritual, and the cosmos. (Image: Toni Hafkensheid)
  Conversely, 'Monument' is an acknowledgement of the agency of the non-human world by drawing attention to the actual species that share and shape human habitats; it demarcates the passage of time shared between seemingly disparate animals - human and insect - to promote empathy and curiosity for the natural world at a critical time in history. (Image: Toni Hafkensheid)
 Monument 1, Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa  (Image: Toni Hafkensheid)
 The second iteration at the Art Gallery of Peterborough (pictured here) included new species collected throughout the course of the traveling project-run.
 (Image: Toni Hafkensheid)
  Monument  Installation, “Glimmers of the Radiant Real,” Robert McLaughlin Gallery, 2018 (Image: Sam Mogelonsky).
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