Treasure
2020
Dimensions – 30 x 20 x 30cm
Materials: Beeswax, pesticide residues in the beeswax (Azoxystrobin, Boscalid, Fluxapyroxad, Fenbuconazole, Penthiopyrad, Cyprodinil, Propiconazole, Metconazole, Pyraclostrobin, Trifoloxystrobin, Difenoconazole, Buprofezin, Chlorantraniliprole, Methoxyfenozide, Coumaphos, Piperonyl butoxide, Atrazine, Metolachlor, Trifloxystrobin, Fenpyroximate), tinned copper wire, tissue paper, dressmaking beads, cotton thread, silk fabric, dry ground artists’ pigments, acrylic paints, acrylic varnish.
Treasure was developed through a collaboration with entomologist Scott McArt at Cornell University, using honey bee wax collected from colonies in New York and New Jersey. Analysis identified multiple pesticide residues within the wax itself, which are listed as part of the material of the work. For Townsend, who had worked with wax for many years as both an artist and museum conservator, the discovery marked a significant shift in understanding. Accustomed to adding pigments, oils, and other substances to alter the material by hand, she became fascinated by the idea that the wax had already been altered through human agricultural activity and the environmental systems moving through it.
Presented within a Perspex treasure box containing carefully arranged compartments of individually sculpted wildflowers, the work draws on the visual language of museum collections, specimen drawers, and cabinets of curiosity. The flowers are based on species native to the UK, including plants found growing close to the artist’s studio and within her small urban garden planted to support pollinators.
The title refers not only to the preciousness of threatened ecosystems, but also to the hidden scientific information embedded within the material itself. Like minerals or fossils buried beneath the earth, the ecological evidence carried within the wax must first be uncovered, analysed, and understood. Rather than illustrating scientific research directly, Treasure considers how knowledge, value, and care are assigned to the natural world, and how fragile systems are preserved, collected, and contained.
