A Study in Black and Gold

A Study in Black and Gold features scrambling blackberry (Rubus fruticosus) plants delicately sculpted using traditional wax flower-making techniques, alongside dried insect specimens donated by a museum curator. The works are mounted within American lime and glass entomology cabinet drawers.

The series is informed by observations of nature within an urban environment, and by the artist’s previous twenty-year career as a natural science conservator at the National Museum of Wales, including direct engagement with the scientific collections in her care. The Blackberry (Rubus) collection at the National Museum of Wales holds approximately 15,000 specimens and is recognised worldwide as a major scientific reference collection. The museum also houses one of the largest insect collections in the UK.

In these works, blackberries, which in the wild provide an important source of nectar for pollinators, appear to grow within the entomology drawers alongside preserved bee specimens, reflecting their ecological relationship.

Created from a combination of natural beeswax and man-made paraffin wax, a by-product of the oil industry, and rendered in monotone, the works draw attention to the impact of human activity on this relationship, while also acknowledging the role of scientific study.