Butterflies Of Singapore
Painted with a nod to 16th and 17th century naturalist prints that almost exclusively featured British and European butterflies, my collection of gouache on wooden panels put butterflies that are local to Singapore in the spotlight. Decades ago, before the wonder of film, documentation of the natural world was heavily dependent on artists (who were also scientists!). An image would be composed to convey as much information as possible, such as taxonomic family, habits and habitat. For butterflies, illustrations often included various life stages and host plants. In the painting above, The Feast of the Papilionidae, I show you that butterflies from the Swallowtail family are partial to nectar from the hibiscus plant that has blooms in many colours. The full collection of 15 works was exhibited at Creamier Tiong Bahru.
