How A Moth Becomes a Tree
2021
acrylic on wood boards
240cm x 300cm instalation, Barcelona Spain

images of a solo exhibition in Mutuo Gallery Barcelona
Starting from the question of the Irish philosopher Jorge Barkly, that was one of the pioneers of the existential approach of immaterialism, that state that things exist only when are discovered. His question was: “if a tree falls in the forest but nobody listens, did it make a sound?”
Moths are fascinating creatures. The coloration and patterns of their upper wings are shaped by natural selection to match the patterns of the tree bark on which the moths camouflage themselves. There are over 160,000 types of moths, and in this current research focuses on a family of moths called the Saturniidae. The family contains over 2300 types of species and some of the largest moths in the world.
A unique characteristic of those moths are the eye-like shapes on their lower wings. When they feel threatened, they spread their upper wings, revealing the large eyes, this startles the predator, giving the moth few seconds to escape and land on the bark of a tree to camouflage, taking advantage of the fact that the patterns on its wings matching the pattern of the tree bark. The moth creates the result of camouflage without having to change its own characteristics, nor the background, but its ability to obtain invisibility also due to movement and precise positioning on the tree bark.




