Monarch butterflies and caterpillars perch and feast upon one of their native host plants, common milkweed. Inspired by cyanotype, with its deep blue negative space and ghostly, ethereal imprints, Michel illustrates her anxieties regarding ecosystem collapse. “Drawing from a mode that emphasizes the visual weight of what isn’t there felt appropriate when contemplating the hordes of migrating monarchs described in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, a phenomenon I didn’t know had ever existed in our area. I’m lucky to see ten in a given year.”
With subjects blurred and fading into ambiguous space, the full extent of the butterflies’ story is yet unknown, a source of hope for the artist.