Insecta by Linda Broadfoot (Text by A. S. Byatt) : Published by  Linda L. Broadfoot, 2005

Insecta by Linda Broadfoot (Image courtesy of Vamp & Tramp, Booksellers)

One's first impression of this wonderful 'book' is of a custom-made Schmitt insect specimen box made from maple and poplar with brass hinges and clasp, and title label holder that states "Insecta". However, opening it reveals six bound portfolios each containing colour images of insect specimens veiled behind shimmering silk organza screens that lend texture to the illustrations and give the impression of movement and flight, imbuing the insect images with life. The six portfolios titled Lepidoptera I and II, Diptera Hymenoptera Odonata, Hemiptera, Coleoptera, and Neuroptera show butterflies, moths, wasps an ants, cicadas, firebugs, beetles, antlions, and owlflies, among others, in their vibrant glory, and are accompanied by A.S. Byatt's story, "Things Are Not What They Seem" bound separately, providing a magical guide to the 30 illustrations of the specimens.

In her artist's statement Linda Broadfoot says:

"In the spring of 2001, I began to borrow insect specimens from the Florida State Collection of Arthropods. Carefully transporting this delicate cargo to New York, I used the Polaroid 20 x 24 Studio to make large image transfers of my subjects. I was working with an alternative photography process—after the initial exposure, the image is transferred to watercolor paper, and then refined by hand to mute portions of its surface. The final piece is titled with the specimen's Latin name, in the tradition of ars botania. Selecting from more than 60 originals, I chose the work enclosed in this book to make small prints on fine art paper for these pages.

"Upon discovering in British author A.S. Byatt's Angels and Insects the mystic tale 'Things Are Not What They Seem,' I knew it was the ideal narrative frame for these strange and beautiful creatures. Her words are included here not only as a vital element but a numinous guide to viewing this Cabinet of Wonder. Such a tradition can be traced to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries when European gentry compiled collections of oddities and exotic artifacts from the New World. These Wunderkammern were Cabinets of Curiosities to those who were bound to their parlors as the wonders of untamed lands flooded into their ports.

"Insecta is a modern-day Wunderkammer. Here, the reader may take an active part in the revelation of the cabinet's contents, a balance of the creations of both God and man—nature and art."

The colophon states that A. S. Byatt's text is printed on Hahnemuhl'e Biblio paper and the images are printed by the artist on Crane's Museo paper using Ultrachrome inks and are enclosed in silk organza pockets mounted on Hahnemuhle's Copperplate.

Insecta was published in a limited edition of 50 copies. The copy in the Herron School of Art & Design Library, IUPUI, is no. 27