Entomology

For many years Tracey made scrapbooks, collections of ephemera that could not be thrown away. The use of scraps is a way of recycling both materials and images in a process of reconstruction. These books have now emerged as Lepidoptera; butterflies and moths, ancient symbols of transformation. Each moth or butterfly is hand-cut from layers of recycled papers and then sewn together using a bookbinders pamphlet stitch. They are then pinned out in entomological boxes made by the suppliers of the Natural History Museum London and the Paris Museum. 

The collections of British Butterflies browns and blues are cut from envelopes postmarked from around Britain. Other collections of British Butterflies are cut from vintage maps of the British Isles. There are quirky links between the butterfly name and the material used. Hence the High Brown Fritillary is cut from the dun contours of the Cheviots. The poetic names such as Meadow brown, Chalkhill blue and Small heath are hand-written in brown ink on tiny scientific labels. Butterflies are amongst the first indicators of environmental change; these collections hope to highlight their frailty and diversity, as an alternative to a collection of actual specimens.