Vanishing X (Monarch Butterfly)

Holly Downing

California artist Holly Downing’s work has meditated in the last few years on the theme of vanishing ecological and zoological facets of North America. Among them is the California Monarch butterfly. Famous for its migration from Canada to Mexico and back again, a journey that requires up to five generations of butterflies to complete, its numbers in the 1980s were recorded at over 4.5 million; as of 2020, fewer than 2,500 were recorded. Factors for the dramatic decline are numerous, but all fall under the stamp of human activity.

Downing uses the softness achieved with mezzotint to depict the Monarch in all of its delicate beauty. Silhouettes of the milkweed plant - the key to the survival of the Monarch caterpillar - emerge from the background. Downing achieves the sense of something that is at once important and ephemeral; as much immortal in its significance as it is teetering on a precipice.