Insecticide

Insecticide

2006

C-type Photograph

Various Dimensions

• Hysteria, 2009
• Nebulaphobia, 2009
• Sordid Earth, 2012
• Preternatural, 2013
• Mat Collishaw, 2014
• Mat Collishaw, New Art Gallery Walsall, 2015
• Mat Collishaw - Rudolfinum, Prague, 2018

When his newborn son arrived home, Collishaw became preoccupied with disinfecting the flat, involving killing bugs and insects that had made their way inside.

He began printing laser images of these flattened creatures by placing them into 35mm glass slide carriers. This process graduated to desktop scanners where he could directly scan the crushed insect.

The scan resembled nothing at first, but Collishaw would look for facets of an image that could be manipulated into something identifiable.