“A portrait is an artistic representation of a person or object. The intent is to show the basic appearance of the person or object, and occasionally some artistic insight into his or her personality.”

“LEPIDOPTERA PORTRAITS”, is a project about butterflies and moths. In this series butterflies and moths are shown using the means and aesthetics that are normally used photographing portraits of people. This body of work explores the facial expressions and emotions of these subjects and the way we look at animals. Photography as a medium makes it possible to magnify tiny objects. The faces of these butterflies and moths, in the exhibited prints are considerably larger than life. This kind of presentation creates an encounter where the viewer can examine the expressions in a way that is not possible in real life. Anthropomorphism is a concept which describes the tendency to project human emotions onto animal behavior. It is tempting to interpret the expressions in these portraits using the scale and approach of human emotions. What kind of emotions can the facial expressions and gestures in these portraits express?

All the prints in this series are Digital Pigment Prints,  approximately 53.5” x 44” in size.