‘Activating Collections’ Artist Residency 2025

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‘Activating Collections’ Artist Residency 2025 * 

About my 'Activating Collections' Residency Project

Moths are essential creatures in our ecosystems, we all depend on them. They are also incredibly beautiful and fascinating in their own right. Being small, mostly nocturnal, camouflaging and with most funded research on the few pest species, they are readily overlooked and undervalued. My hometown of Albany sits in a global biodiversity hotspot however we know relatively little of the moth species that exist here.

This residency was an opportunity to investigate this more deeply, document (albeit a fraction) of what exists here and share the exploration with the local community. Wonder and curiosity are the first steps to awareness. If we don’t even know what exists here _____ How do we care about and protect creatures we don’t even notice? With global insect populations in dramatic decline, this question feels more relevant than ever.

I spent a month in Perth, most of it at the WA Museum Research and Collections Centre, looking at the Lepidoptera collection (moths and butterflies) alongside Head Curator of Entomology, Dr Nikolai Tatarnic. Back in Albany I used a UV blacklight and ‘sheeting’ field techniques to document local moths. Exploring the use of citizen science. I created oil paintings from the combined documentation of museum specimens and my fieldwork documentation. From this I held an exhibition to share with the local community, including a participatory mural installation project (in progress).

This artist residency was supported by ART ON THE MOVE, The Museum of the Great Southern, The West Australian Museum and North Metro TAFE.

The Western Australian Museum Lepidoptera Collection

Research in the WA Museum Research & Collections Centre.

  • Incredibly Delicate Specimens

    These specimens are incredibly delicate. You do not touch them, you lift them ever so carefully by their pin, transferring them to a specimen box to place under the microscope. I spent most of my time looking down the microscope. (Photograph by Danika Zuks)

  • Slow Looking

    This time in the collection gave me the opportunity to really look, look, look. Previously I had not realised how important this stage is. To repeatedly examine and ‘actively look’ (drawing what you see), asking myself the questions of what I am noticing, feeling and want to share; then ‘how will I convey this through my painting’. (Photograph by Danika Zuks)

  • In the Entomology Lab

    I had this beautiful spot in the lab, down the row from Dr Tatarnic. With two high powered microscopes on hand and all the specimens I could wish for. I was in absolute heaven. Staff and research students working in the lab shared their knowledge and projects with me. (Photograph by Danika Zuks)

  • Drawing in my Sketchbook

    The view under the microscope is nothing like what you see in a photo. Everything comes out at you, in 3-dimensions, the folds of the wing, the hairs and ruffles of the body, the colour, iridescence and detail of the scales… A photo is a good reference to map their position but nothing replaces documenting these details by hand. I could spend a month properly drawing a single specimen. (Photograph by Danika Zuks)

  • The 'Wet' Collection

    The museum collection is a massive modern library of biodiversity of vital importance for research and our heritage. In the ‘wet’ colletion, specimens are stored in ethanol. This is best for specimens that have a lot of moisture in their body. I didnt spend much time in here as most of my specimens I was invetigaing are stored dry. However it is here where I FELT the importnace of these collections and how invisible the work of maintaining this collection is to most of us. (Photograph by Danika Zuks)

  • The 'Dry' Collection

    Rows of dark green metal cabinets are filled with beautifully arranged draws of specimens. Most of the lepidoptera collection (butterflies and moths) is in the ‘dry collection’ where they can be carefully pinned to show and preserve their finely scaled wings, delicate antennae and furry bodies. (Photograph by Danika Zuks)

  • 52 Boxes of Albany Specimens

    Dr Nikolai Tatarnic shows me one of 52 boxes of Albany specimens, mostly moths, from local Mike Payne. These had recently been donated to the WA Museum. They had not yet even been catalogued! I had the privilege of looking at and working with these specimens. (Photograph by Danika Zuks)

  • Macro camera & Micromoths

    Dr Tatarnic taught me how to use the macro camera. It can take extreme close up photographs and piece them together with computer software. In my last days I became obsessed with the micromoths in the collection. I hope to investigate these more deeply in a future project.

The Fieldwork

Albany, Western Australia

I shine a 365nm UV blacklight onto a white sheet, a field technique known as ‘sheeting’. The short-wavelength light attracts many moth species. I can then readily measure and photograph them.

Different moths arrive at different times of year. Every time I have found a species I have not seen previously.

Then I turn off the UV light, they fly off unharmed to continue their nighttime antics,

Citizen Science

iNATURALIST

Logging moth biodiversity in Albany, Western Australia

Recording my moth observations to iNaturalist, creating publicly accessible biodiversity records that can support species identification and understanding of moth distributions in Albany and The Great Southern.

Tracking the critically endangered Bogong Moth

BOGONG WATCH

Documenting sightings of the critically endangered Bogong moth here in Albany, to contribute research data to the larger Bogong Watch research project. With further community engagement efforts to come.

The Exhibition

First I held an open studio over two days at North Metro TAFE in Perth, alongside two art/science talks for the students.

Back in Albany, I created an art/science exhibition. On displayed at the Museum of the Great Southern, our local branch of the Western Australian Museum. '

Tiny Lives, Borrowed Light‍ ‍24 August - 20 Sept 2026

Exhibition Information
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'MOTH' (2019-2022) - Moths of the Great Southern of Western Australia