Artist Statement We are at a very interesting time in history. Advances in medicine and technology have made us capable of making decisions never before thought possible. The pace of genetic manipulation is far outstripping the pace of natural evolution by orders of magnitude. We can now choose the gender of our children, clone our pets, and make lab rats glow with the bioluminescence of jellyfish. What is next? What does the future hold?
Most people do not know what the natural world looks like. In my first series of photographs, “Meet the Beetles,” I worked to show the beauty of anatomical structure in the insect world. In this new series of photographs, “Unnatural Selection,” I have taken my skill in repairing existing insects and used it to create entirely new species of insect.
Like a well-meaning researcher, I started out exploring the wonders of nature, then I learned to repair nature, then I began to perfect nature. It was a slippery slope that led me to begin recreating nature. Yeats said, “A terrible beauty is born.” My terrible beauties were not born, but fabricated to be photographed.
I shoot with a 4x5 field camera and sepia-tone the prints in the style of the 19th century, when scientists were debating Darwin's theory of evolution, museums throughout Europe were amassing their natural history collections, and illustrators were working to capture the likenesses of flowers in botanical drawings.
Captions
Andrea Wolff, Actias-isis, 2004, Sepia-Toned Gelatin Silver Print, 24x20”
Andrea Wolff, Actias-cyclommatus, 2007, Sepia-Toned Gelatin Silver Print, 24x20”
Andrea Wolff, Chalcosoma-atlas, 2005, Sepia-Toned Gelatin Silver Print, 24x20”
Andrea Wolff, Chalcosoma-romalea, 2007, Sepia-Toned Gelatin Silver Print, 24x20”
Andrea Wolff, Deroplatys-lobata, 2005, Sepia-Toned Gelatin Silver Print, 24x20”
Andrea Wolff, Deroplatys-angiamina, 2007, Sepia-Toned Gelatin Silver Print, 24x20”
Andrea Wolff, Heteropterix-dilitata, 2006, Sepia-Toned Gelatin Silver Print, 24x20”
Andrea Wolff, Heteropterix-dilitata-dilitata, 2004, Sepia-Toned Gelatin Silver Print, 24x20”
