IN THE WINGS

Recently landed: In the wings

In our work, celebrating the intelligence of the Velvet ant, a female mutillidae, we hope the small writ large encourages people to consider what the Velvet ant might see, as she searches for a host’s nest in which to lay her single egg. Of course, we can never know what she might see, nor what it is like to read the world through polarised light. She is small, compared to us, and her life is also deemed small, again, compared to us. But is she? And is it? Or are we still seeing as human? She is unfathomable in her enormity of knowledge. She selects a host’s larvae in relation to the gender of her egg: a larger host species is located for a female, a smaller one for a male. With her unique defence mechanisms and parasitic behaviours, the Velvet ant is mighty.

Continuing reading on Marginalia.

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16th of February, 2026

When disturbed, the female Velvet ant makes a squeaking or chirping sound through rubbing her abdominal segments together, signalling an auditory warning. In much the same way, our artwork, disturbed by the humidity, issued a distress call. All calls heeded, we’ve given her some extra support at the tail. Fine batons, each one metre in length and encased in Moenkopi Kozo paper sleeves, now offer their assistance.