The Collective
Kimberly Tucker
![Sculpture mounted on a wall in the form of the Walmart Logo including a starburst beside and the words Save money. Live Better. below in small letters. Created out of dried gelatin imbedded with Gypsy moth eggs](https://2023.theshow.ecuad.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/walmart1-scaled.jpg)
Artist Statement
This work examines the role of capitalism as it relates to climate change and the interrelationship between humans and the natural world.
I collected thousands of living Gypsy moth eggs from deciduous trees in the forest around my home in eastern Ontario. The trees have been deforested for several consecutive years by a growing infestation of Lymantria Dispar (Gypsy moths). With few natural predators and altered weather patterns conducive to unchecked growth, the voracious caterpillars are causing unprecedented damage in the Boreal Forest. I scrape egg masses from the trees and separate the eggs from their masses. I then suspend the insect eggs in gelatin within 3D printed molds whose letters form the words “Walmart. Save Money. Live Better” The eggs in the warm yellow-coloured gelatin resemble insects in amber or seeding within a growth substrate.
This work draws attention to the role capitalism plays in our environmental crisis. I draw parallels between the problems of corporate greed and consumerism and the unchecked spread, exuberant consumption, and resulting damage of the moth infestation. These two manifestations are intrinsically connected, and the similarities are undeniable as growth and expansion are primary drivers in systems where checks and balances are askew, and the immediacy of the impact is seen in our environment.
![a detail of Sculpture mounted on a wall in the form of the Walmart Logo including a starburst beside and the words Save money. Live Better. below in small letters. Created out of dried gelatin imbedded with Gypsy moth eggs](https://2023.theshow.ecuad.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/walmart7-scaled.jpg)
![a Detail of Sculpture mounted on a wall in the form of the Walmart Logo including a starburst beside and the words Save money. Live Better. below in small letters. Created out of dried gelatin imbedded with Gypsy moth eggs](https://2023.theshow.ecuad.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/walmart8-scaled.jpg)
![artist standing beside sculpture mounted on a wall, the Walmart logo with slogan Save money. Live Better](https://2023.theshow.ecuad.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Kimberly_Tucker_Walmart_Scale1-scaled.jpeg)
Process
![Kimberly Tucker standing beside a poplar tree with Gypsy Moth egg masses](https://2023.theshow.ecuad.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/IMG_3141-768x1024.jpg)
![Harvested Gypsy Moth egg masses](https://2023.theshow.ecuad.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/IMG_3292-768x1024.jpg)
![Gypsy Moth eggs in a container, mechanically separated from the egg masses](https://2023.theshow.ecuad.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/IMG_3306-768x1024.jpg)
![Many tiny Gypsy Moth eggs on the palm of a hand.](https://2023.theshow.ecuad.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/IMG_3101-768x1024.jpg)
![3D printed molds with the letters Walmart, and Live better, Save money, randomly displayed on a counter.](https://2023.theshow.ecuad.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/IMG_3494-768x1024.jpg)
![Detail of 3D printed mold of a letter W, showing partially filled with gelatin and Gypsy moth eggs suspended in the gelatin](https://2023.theshow.ecuad.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/IMG_3418-768x1024.jpg)
The Way of Things
![A sculpture consisting of 7 found porcelain female figurines in long dresses assembled in a column and partially bleached of colour. Gypsy moth eggs cover the northwest side of the column.](https://2023.theshow.ecuad.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Kimberly_Tucker_The_Way_of_Things-1.jpeg)
![A sculpture consisting of 7 found porcelain female figurines in long dresses assembled in a column and partially bleached of colour. Gypsy moth eggs cover the northwest side of the column.](https://2023.theshow.ecuad.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/DSC0250-895x1024.jpeg)
![A sculpture consisting of 7 found porcelain female figurines in long dresses assembled in a column and partially bleached of colour. Gypsy moth eggs cover the northwest side of the column.](https://2023.theshow.ecuad.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/DSC0245.jpeg)
![A detail of a sculpture consisting of 7 found porcelain female figurines in long dresses assembled in a column and partially bleached of colour. Gypsy moth eggs cover the northwest side of the column.](https://2023.theshow.ecuad.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/DSC0265-1024x680.jpeg)
![A detail of a sculpture consisting of 7 found porcelain female figurines in long dresses assembled in a column and partially bleached of colour. Gypsy moth eggs cover the northwest side of the column.](https://2023.theshow.ecuad.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/DSC0259-1024x680.jpeg)
The Way of Things, Found Porcelain Figurines, Lymantria Dispar (Gypsy Moth) Egg Masses, 22″ x 12″ x 10″
A continuation of my work with Lymantria Dispar Egg masses, The Way of Things explores the entanglement of uncertainty and adaptation in relation to climate change.
A tumultuous piling of discarded porcelain figurines are partially covered and encased by an abundance of living Gypsy moth eggs. Several layers of eggs cover one side of the figurines, obscuring features, and filling crevices while the colour is blanched from the figures. I am considering how Western thinking sets humans apart from, and above nature. The glossy white figurines are cast about, merged, and integrated together and juxtaposed against the dark, soft, natural masses of eggs that are methodically and assuredly covering the porcelain. The incubating eggs create a dialogue between the inevitable progression of time and the impending certainty of change.
Related Work
![A sculpture resembling coral, consisting of three white needle felted forms with porcelain doll faces, pink and blue disposable hair curlers and grey wool socks comprising smaller sections of coral](https://2023.theshow.ecuad.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Tucker2-1024x680.jpg)
![A detail view of a sculpture resembling coral, consisting of three white needle felted forms with porcelain doll faces, pink and blue disposable hair curlers and grey wool socks comprising smaller sections of coral](https://2023.theshow.ecuad.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Tucker4-1024x681.jpg)
![an edible sculpture in the form of a sphere, comprised of fruit including apples, straberries, cherries, grapes and dragonfruit resembling a cancerous tumour with blue veins emerging from the form](https://2023.theshow.ecuad.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/DSC0231-scaled.jpeg)
![sculpture of porcelain greenware embedded with a fired porcelain figurine, the face emerging, holding a stick.](https://2023.theshow.ecuad.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/DSC0319copy-1024x680.jpg)
![sculpture from porcelain greenware of a bean seed with a metal zipper opening to allow the sprout out](https://2023.theshow.ecuad.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/DSC0336copy-1024x680.jpg)
![sculpture of white hands cast in plaster, gripping and holding onto each other in a swirl forming the tree rings and form of a tree stump.](https://2023.theshow.ecuad.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/DSC0309-1024x680.jpg)
![sculpture of white hands cast in plaster, gripping and holding onto each other in a swirl forming the tree rings and form of a tree stump.](https://2023.theshow.ecuad.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/DSC0305-1024x680.jpg)
![Form of a woman in a bodysuit fashioned of various pieces of found lace, and lace doilies standing alone in a spruce forest](https://2023.theshow.ecuad.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/2-copy-1-1024x842.jpg)
![Form of a woman in a bodysuit fashioned of various pieces of found lace, and lace doilies standing alone in a spruce forest](https://2023.theshow.ecuad.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/IMG_5616-1024x694.jpeg)