Jo Whaley's Natural Order
Photographing where art and science intertwine
Plate 24, Orthoptera: Acrididae
Combining elements of still-life painting, theater stagecraft, and biological sciences, Santa Fe artist Jo Whaley’s photographs are a sort of interdisciplinary-studies course for viewers. Not surprisingly, crossing boundaries to illuminate the “in-between” is as much a part of her life as her art: Following this winter’s show at Photo-Eye Gallery, her latest series, The Theater of Insects, hangs through March 1 at the National Academy of Sciences, in Washington, D.C. And in late 2008, Chronicle Books published an unusual monograph (by the same name) that includes an essay by local entomologist Linda Wiener, creating what Whaley calls “a counterpoint to my visual explorations.”
You have written that your work is influenced by Renaissance still-life paintings. How did The Theater of Insects grow out of your Natura Morta series, which more closely mimicked those works?
In Renaissance art, the insect represented the fleeting nature of life: Its life span is short, and it assists in the decay of matter. The concept is called vanitas—that all things pass, including us. I had the insects in the studio for Natura Morta to incorporate them into the still lifes; now I’m taking that symbol and bringing it to center stage. And because the insects are large in my prints, the viewer confronts them on a human scale—a one-to-one relationship. So it calls into question man’s perceived dominance over nature.
Yet your compositions are highly controlled, so in a sense, they also celebrate that.
Oh, interesting. Part of the control is just the nature of studio photography. To get the inanimate to be animate, you really have to work the lighting and composition so it appears effortless. But also, I’m not trying to replicate the chaos of nature. Rather, it’s a distillation of this line between the urban and the natural.
Your photos could be taken as warnings against human efforts to control nature.
I just find it curious. The world we create is soi artificial: It’s made from natural materials, but by the time we get it, it’s so far removed from nature. We used to cut down trees to build a house, and that house would then melt into the ground. In our more urban environment, we create things that don’t break down. So it’s this in-between world. And I’m holding up a mirror for this time period—this world we’ve created.
What do you say when you come across the “ick” reaction?
I think it’s in my favor that the pieces are not all decorative. There is the elevating, transcendent quality of a butterfly’s wing. Linda Wiener writes in her essay that the ancient Greek word for “soul” is the same word that’s used for “butterfly”: psyche. And there’s equally the terror of this different creature. Its body looks menacing, and it’s a shape-shifter. So those are all emotions I use.
How did you find your direction in your art?
Just by observing. And seeing the dissonance that’s out here all around us. I’m looking forward to starting a new body of work that’s going to be a mixture of chemistry and plants. Again, it’s direct observation.
Just like the earliest scientists.
And artists. It really is the same process.
The Theater of Insects, photographs by Jo Whaley, essays by Deborah Klochko, Linda Wiener, and Jo Whaley; Photo-Eye Bookstore, 370 Garcia, 505-988-5152, photoeye.com
