Ann Seymourwas raised in the midwest but has called many places home, including New York where she has lived for the better part of the 21st century. She began making miniature dioramas about a decade ago that evolved over time into larger, more abstract pieces interrogating our relationship with the natural world. She sources real (!) dried insect specimens, primarily beetles, online. The insects hail from all over the world and many from places she has never been—Java, Madagascar, Peru. Their colorings and markings are natural and unaltered, evocative of their originating environments. Ann uses directed heat and moisture exposure to create a tiny insect sauna that relaxes their legs and wings so she can pin them in place. The result of this final resting is something sacred.
