Had a lovely day yesterday wandering around Barnard Castle's old antique shops and visiting the Bowes Museum, for a birthday treat. I had been wanting to go and see the Damien Hirst exhibition since I read that a number of his recent works were on show locally. As I am very interested in butterflies generally (have always loved them and have a small collection of Chinese embroidered butterflies) and for my final major project in particular, I wanted to see how Damien Hirst had dealt with the subject. Although not usually keen on some of his work I did like the momento part of this show. It juxtaposed black and white skulls with brightly coloured butterflies, against a black background, to great effect as my photographs showed.
I have always loved William Blake's (and the ancients) idea that butterflies are dead mens souls, which is how, it seems, Hirst sees them too. This made the combination of beautiful butterflies and skulIs completely acceptable!!! I loved the vivid colours chosen for the butterflies, my favourite being the beautiful blue one.
Got three for the price of one with this picture- butterfly/medicine label style prints and my son and I !!!!!!
Hello Anne, Have you read The Butterfly Workshop by Giaconda Belli? I just finished it and then saw this post on your blog! I enjoy your posts as I can relate to them. Thank you!
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