The US artist Catherine Chalmers creates work on the intersection of nature and tradition, typically centring on humanity’s sophisticated relationship with the insect world. Antworks is a novel inventive collaboration between Chalmers and a colony of leafcutter ants discovered on the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica. For the brief movie, Chalmers captured these ants reducing, stripping and carrying leaves from a vibrant plant that she had set them upon. Per Chalmers, these ensuing leaf fragments seemed like ‘tiny Summary Expressionist work’ as soon as separated from their supply. The ensuing brief is an amusing, surprisingly riveting contemplation of the minds – and even perhaps aesthetic sensibilities – of those fascinating creatures.
Through Kottke
