This week Joseph and Nathan are joined by Marissa Macias, a local artist and fashion designer who owns the insect-inspired clothing brand Petrichor, to discuss insect aesthetics. They begin by examining 7 of the ~30 extant insect orders: hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps), odonata (dragonflies), coleoptera (beetles), orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets), mantodea (mantids), lepidoptera (butterflies, moths), and heteroptera (true bugs). Amongst other things they discuss Chicago’s recent dual cicada brood emergence, how insects appeared in pre-modern still lives because of their association with death, and how decline in insect biomass could result in systems collapse and a sixth extinction.

Links:

https://www.petrich0r.com/ (online shop)

Petrichor (Instagram)

Marissa’s Neurobasis Kaupi Are.na Channel

Maria Sibylla Merian

The Insect Asylum

Cicada Parade-a

Carravagio’s Basket of Fruit

Durer’s Stag Beetle

Eating Bugs to Save the Planet by Dana Goodyear

The Collapse of Insects By Julia Janicki, Gloria Dickie, Simon Scarr and Jitesh Chowdhury

Earth Is Not in the Midst of a Sixth Mass Extinction by Peter Brannen

Ocean Trash Is a Lifesaver for Insects by Daniel Strain

Artwork:

Neurobasis Kaupi by Marissa Macias

Recorded on 7/10/2024