The exquisite Butterflies print design features my illustrations of Butterflies found in the natural history collection at Royal Albert Memorial Museum.
This illustration is part of the Museum Botanical collection, I was fascinated by the hidden narratives of the collections within Royal Albert Memorial Museum; artefacts from contrasting provenance finding themselves sitting alongside one another, removed from the contexts of their previous lives, yet linked by the fact that they now form part of a collection bigger than themselves. My research focused on the natural history collections, particularly the 19th century Sladen collection of Echinoderms such as starfish and sea lilies, the vibrant collections of rare and tropical butterflies, and the adjacent treasure trove of bird specimens from across the world. I combined this research with collections from beyond the walls of the museum, including studies of pressed seaweed and coral collected in the early 20th century.