Broken butterflies
(2011) The book 'The Butterfly Workshop’ by Gioconda Belli was an inspiration for the restored butterflies. This children’s book is about a character called Arno, one of the ‘designers of all things’ who secretly wants to create something that is as beautiful as a flower and can fly like a bird. Arno works in a space where butterflies are designed and made, and this idea of a utilitarian workspace for beautiful creatures really appealed to my imagination.
I had my own collection of damaged butterflies, so I decided to repair each one differently according to their needs. So in a way, I now have my own workplace with butterflies and give the butterflies a second life. I design body parts and give the insects new names, names that reveal something about their recovery. For example the The 'Blue spinner' looked like it had died the moment it hatched from its cocoon. This lead me to me make the body from a twig wrapped with blue thread. A few threads are still hanging loose , almost as though the butterfly is slowly unwinding and breaking free from its cocoon.
Rode draad (w:40 h:50 d:5.5cm)
Cloud (w:17 h:20 d:5.5cm)
Yellow light (w:25 h:65 d:5.5cm)
Glass ball (w:17 h:20 d:5.5cm)
Gold wing (w:26 h:35 d:5.5cm)
Glass balloon (w:17 h:20 d:5.5cm)
Pluizen-bol (w:17 h:20 d:5.5cm)
Fire-fly (w:17 h:20 d:5.5cm)
The dandelion (w:17 h:20 d:5.5cm)
"Silky family" are different types of butterflies belongs to the same family of "embroidered wings".
(w:55 h:65 d:6.5cm)
"Stardust flies" leaves a trace of stardust. The tails are made from glass filled with golden fairy dust.
The shells are made of different types of twigs. (w:50 h:70 d 6.5cm)
"Twin spinners" are dizygotic twins both have embroidered wings which are totally different from each other.
(w:40 h:50 d 5.5cm)
"Rainbow warrior" leaves a trail of love and softness. He was made from soft color feathers and confetti.
(w:65 h:25 d 6.5cm)
"Root fly" received roots to keep in contact with the earth. (w:26 h:35 d:5.5cm)
"Queen of wings" is created from pieces of broken wings. (w:40 h:50 d:5.5cm)
"Black thread butterfly" lost his wings and received two new embroidered ones. (w:40 h:50 d:5.5cm)
"Little glass fly" is going high in the sky with glass ballon. (w:14 h:17 d:5.5cm)
"Blue spot kite" is attached to a paper kite and the missing wings are spots made of ink. (w:26 h:35 d: 5.5 cm)
"Rainbow long-tailed" leaves a trail of rainbow colours with his long tail. (w:55 h:65 d: 5.5 cm)
"Black long-tailed" has a long tail that helps him to get high into the sky. (w:20 h:55 d: 5.5 cm)
"Little yellow spotted kite" is attached to a paper kite and the missing wings are spots made of ink. (w:14 h:25 d: 5.5 cm)
"Light long tailed" reflects the light with his tail and makes it twinkel. (w:55 h:65 d: 5.5 cm)
"White air"
Photo print under acrylic sheet (w:55 h:65 cm)
“The one with the feathers” lost his upper wings and was repaired with a warbonnet of feathers. (w:26 h:20 d: 5.5 cm)
"Twig-fly” has a body made of a twig and wings made from leaves. It helps him to camouflage himself in the trees.
( w:17 h:14 d:5.5 cm)
"African Queen” is wrapped in a royal african dress made from a patchwork of butterfly wings. (w:26 h:20 d:5.5 cm)
“Balloon butterfly” has a balloon instead of his broken wing, it helps him flying. (w:14 h:25 d:5.5 cm)
“Carnival” is a grashopper that dressed up like a butterfly. He got a pair of wings and high heels made from flower twigs. (w:14 h:25 d:5.5 cm)
“24 pieces butterfly” is built up from different butterfly wings, all the pieces together creating a new butterfly.
(w:25 h:14 d:5.5 cm)
"White Air” has a balloon filled up with white air. It helps the little butterfly to rice up. (w:14 h:17 d:5.5 cm)
“The tread tensioner" is missing two wings. With thread and pins I have recreated the construction the veins of his wings.
( w:17 h:14 d:5.5 cm)
The "Medusozoa" had lost her body and antennae and could no longer fly. She was given a new set of flying tools and a propeller. The movement of the Medusuzoa inspired the name. (w:14 h:25 d:5.5 cm)
"Golden root butterfly". This butterfly was missing its body and I added the plant root to recreate the butterfly's torso.
The root symbolizes an umbilical cord to the earth. (w:14 h:25 d:5.5 cm)
"Black spot butterfly" was missing two top wings, so I made the new wings by embroidering the black spots patterns on fabric. (w:17 h:14 d:5.5 cm)
"Goudrafeltje" (Gold fray). The wings of this butterfly seemed to be frayed, like a dress which has its seam missing and the fabric has frayed. I fixed the wings with gold leaf to stop further fraying. (w:17 h:14 d:5.5 cm)
"Blue spinner" lookes like it died the moment it hatched from the cocoon. This lead to me recreate the body from a twig wrapped with blue thread. A few threads are still hanging loose almost as though the butterfly is slowly unwinding and breaking free from its cocoon. (w:18 h:50 d:5.5 cm)
"Map Butterfly". The original name of this butterfly is "Atlas moth" and lives in Asia. I used the maps of Asia to repair its wings. (w:26 h:20 d:5.5 cm)