This work by Ian van Coller belongs to the ongoing Guggenheim-awarded series The Naturalists of the Long Now, and was featured in our gallery exhibition D|EVOLVE. The artist collaborates with scientists to create unique works. In this piece, van Coller collaborated with Jenny McCarty, Masters student in Entomology at Montana State University.
McCarty is studying the change in populations of mayflies and caddisflies due to climate change. She has established research collection sites all along the Gallatin River where larvae and adult specimens are collected. As the river is warming due to climate change, certain species populations are shifting upriver to where the water remains cooler. This photograph by van Coller depicts one of the sites McCarty has studied; it was annotated by her, and also includes "specimen windows" with images van Coller made in McCarty's lab. Together, artist and scientist trace the shifts in the smallest of species that signify greater global change.
While it is easy as humans to generally regard insects as unwanted pests, this piece reminds us that “Aquatic insects are critical for: Driving stream systems,” and play a critical role in the health of the ecosystem, as they are a “food resource for fish, birds, raccoons, invertebrates, bears; drive flows of energy and nutrients; and cycle material.”
Ian van Coller and Jenny McCarty
Mayflies and Caddisflies on the Gallatin River, 2018
Unique 30x40 pigment print with graphite
$7,000 mounted & framed behind UV Plexi
Through the Glass- Image Details
