tessa farmer : taxidermy fine art

Combining elements of taxidermy and entomology, Tessa Farmer’s tiny sculptures give a glimpse into the world of fairies. No story book land of Tinkerbells, Farmer’s Swarm envisions the purveyors of mischief and magic as an actual species, as animalistic and Darwinian as any other. Exchanging Victorian romanticism for the darker pragmatism of science, Farmer evidences her specimens as fearsome skeletal fiends, plausible “hell’s angels” of a microscopic apocalypse. Posed in dramatic battle formations, Farmer’s menagerie wages war against garden variety pests; each figure, painstakingly hand crafted and adorned with real insect wings, stands less than 1 cm tall.


The five images above this description are from "Little Savages". The exhibit took place at the Museum of Natural History Museum of London, following a residency in the entomology department.

The artist writes: "I discovered that fairies are related to parasitoid wasps - and here, after infesting the museum, they are seen attacking a fox."

Above two images are from "Swarm".

"Resurrection of the Rat".

From the artist: "The fairies captured, killed, and are the rat's flesh before reworking it's bone structure to create a multi-purpose piece of architecture. There is a caged area, a wasp nest, and several places for experimentation and torture."

Tessa Farmer's website - tessafarmer.com {link}.