Cornelia Hesse-Honegger is a 20th century scientific illustrator from Switzerland. She is best known by her illustrations of bugs affected by radioactive residue left behind in Chernobyl. This series got her an article in the UK’s version of ‘Wired’ Magazine. The attention to radioactivity’s affect on insects, plants and animals in fallout zones has also made her a leading force within the art activism community.
Her work is highly detailed and more colorful than most scientific illustrations. Although she often uses watercolors to achieve muted colors that best mimic the actual color of the insect that is being portrayed. She also often has an array of insect shells on grid paper to compare the various ways a particular species has been mutated. 
She also decides to, as an artist; crop out the heads of the specimens as often as possible. This is most likely an attempt to take the gross factor out of the insect, so people can look past it and see the mutations. Often in her work the mutations are hard to see, because this is how the insect really appears and she makes no attempts to embellish the mutations.
She has quite a few toxic places on her website.
It's hard to tell that there are any mutations in the first picture, but I suppose the dents in the shells of the bottom pictures are the mutations. I find it interesting that she crops the heads off of the insects. I like that idea because I would have normally skipped over these illustrations simply because I don't like looking at bugs. But without the heads and legs I can appreciate her artistic prowess and the the detailed patterns on the shells.
ReplyDeleteI've always looked up to scientific illustrators like Cornelia Hesse-Honegger for the patience and detail they put into their pieces. As far as cropping off the heads, perhaps she is only focusing on the effect of radiation on the shells' color and pattern of the insects. I can't say for certain, but her attention to even the subtlest detail is impressive.
ReplyDeleteI think that these pieces really encourage the viewer to see the beauty in something like an insect. I appreciate the idea behind combining art and science, especially the way this artist has done. The bold colors and textures make the insects resemble art more than science in a way.
ReplyDeleteThe shells are beautiful. In the first picture they struck me as medals, or badges of some kind... not necessarily beetles. I love that you picked a scientific illustrator that not only loves the specificity of her craft, but still appreciates the natural beauty of the insects. Very interesting.
ReplyDeleteI'm assuming the first set is all the same insect, and if so, it clearly shows an array of mutations. This may be something only an entomologist can truly appreciate, but it is fascinating nevertheless.
ReplyDeletemakes me appreciate the patterns of nature more
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