Small Beauties is a 60 minute unravelling of power, society, femininity and the eternal quest for the elixir of youth.
From the primordial forests of ancient Earth to the newest laboratory research into cancer cures, via sixteenth century paintings and 1950s science fiction B-movies, this artwork examines life through the compound eyes of the queen wasp.
On this page there are two versions for you to choose from: the video above, and an audio version.
Small Beauties was researched, written, recorded and produced by Sarah Gillett. It was commissioned by the Übersee-Museum Bremen, Germany, as part of NEO Collections, a project bringing together artists, scientists, curators and technologists to create new meaningful stories from online museum collections.
The development of Small Beauties would not have been possible without the expertise and time of Volker Löhrmann, Curator of Entomology; Etta Grotrian, Head of Digital and Abhay Adhikari, Digital Identities. NEO Collections is funded by the Digital Culture Programme of the German Federal Cultural Foundation. Funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.
© Sarah Gillett 2023