What is the 200 Tunic Show? Learn more here.

The story of my tunic: The Collector

Throughout recent history, humans have been fascinated — obsessed, even — with observing, identifying, and collecting specimens from all branches of life.(1) In some cases, this was the nail in the coffin for a species’ extinction.(2,3) Our desire to connect more deeply with nature — driven by the otherness we have made of ourselves through the growth of industry and modern conveniences — can have a dark side.

This tunic, The Collector, explores the dark side of our obsession with souvenirs from nature for the purpose of connection and collection. The figure is becoming suffocatingly encased in netting — her means of collection — as her pinned specimens crawl towards her. The inner light she emits represents the way she sees herself and her collection: a beacon of knowledge, a conservation ally, a shepherd of wild things. To her subjects, this is a false light, a false moon which would lead them up to seek others of their kind.(4) The desire for connection drives the Collector and the collected together into darkness.

All doom and gloom aside, this tunic also celebrates the diversity and beauty of pattern in the natural world. Through the art and research for this project, I have learned more about the extremes and subtleties of variability among moths. There are species that mimic predators to avoid predation — such as the European Hornet Moth — and even some that mimic bird poop to look unappetizing and camouflaged on leaves in the understory.(5)

For recommended reading on the complex ethics of environmental conservation and some inspiring reads about birds, night ecology, and more, see the list below.

Recommended reading & references that informed this tunic concept

(1) Every Living Thing, Jason Roberts

(2) A World on the Wing, Scott Weidensaul

(3) Cull of the Wild, Hugh Warwick

(4) Night Magic, Leigh Ann Henion

(5) Peterson’s Feild Guide to Moths of Northeastern North America, David Beadle & Seabrooke Leckie