butterfly collection, 1977

Abraxas Gallery, Canberra Australia

I was living in Papua New Guinea and invited to participate in a Christmas Card Show in Australia. I decided to make a global village of butterflies to pin on the wall. From plywood, I cut shapes of 20 butterflies from all over the world, labelled them entomologically and geographically, and painted them with life-force images. Butterflies are short-lived and beautiful.

click on image to enlarge