Visual Art Series  ·  2025— Present

Experience through Insects

Experience through Insects is a visual art series that uses insect life and behavior as metaphors to explore stages of human development, emotional response, and interaction with structured environments. By connecting biological systems to human experience, this series encourages viewers to observe insects not only as ecological organisms but also as reflections of growth, adaptation, and curiosity.

Astronomical scene with a glowing, colorful planet at the center surrounded by a cosmic nebula with swirling clouds and stars.
Mixed media artwork of a vintage classroom or lab with newspaper-textured walls, including laboratory tables with objects, and a blackboard surrounded by a gold ornate frame.

Why Insects?

I have always been interested in the small systems that exist around us but are easy to overlook. Insects became a way for me to translate human experiences into something more visual. Their behaviors can feel strangely familiar: emerging into unfamiliar environments, following established patterns, protecting themselves, searching, adapting, and transforming.

As I developed the series, I began using different insects not simply because of how they looked, but because their biology and behavior could carry another layer of meaning. Each work became part observation and part metaphor, allowing me to examine experiences from my own life while leaving space for viewers to recognize something of themselves.

A surreal cityscape painting featuring buildings made of electronic circuit boards, with two large, striped, orange and red, curled-up creature-like forms perched on some of the structures, set against a sunset sky reflecting on water.
Illustration of a fairytale castle on a rocky hill on the left, with a river and green landscape extending to mountains on the right. Flying dragons and a large dragonfly are in the sky, with the words 'Once Upon a Time...' written on the upper left.
Two black centipedes on a red background, surrounded by pinkish, irregularly shaped objects.

Following a Life Cycle

The works loosely follow a progression through growth and experience. They begin with emergence and discovery, move through curiosity and imagination, and eventually confront the structures and expectations that shape individual identity.

Later pieces explore connection, resistance, and transformation. Rather than illustrating a literal human life cycle, the series moves between moments that have felt significant to me: discovering the world, entering structured environments, feeling pressure to conform, forming relationships, and learning that identity can continually change.

Painting of ants on a rock, with ant trails and greenery in the background.
An artistic composition combining a realistic human heart model with paper butterflies that have handwritten notes on their wings, set against a black background.

Looking Back

This series began as an experiment in connecting my interest in biology with my art, but it gradually became much more personal. Using insects gave me enough distance to explore experiences that would have felt too literal if I represented them directly.

As the work developed, I became less interested in simply depicting insects and more interested in what they could represent. The series taught me that observation can become a form of storytelling. Something as small as an insect can hold ideas about vulnerability, independence, belonging, pressure, and change.