Papillons de Nuit, 2011

Papillons de Nuit—Butterflies of the Night—are the night visitors, photographed every evening on my lighted window, deep in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Attracted to the light, the moth has entered mythology and inspired poetry as a symbol of devotion and sacrifice in many cultures. Paradoxically, our common wisdom dismisses the moth as unpleasant, and it is often extinguished with the glancing blow of the hand.

Using macro photography and video, I present the exquisite detail and beauty of the common moth as portraits—every one an individual in its intricacy and diversity to be seen and appreciated as they disappear in our ever challenged environment.