. Models in Rehab .: The Souls

09-10-2010;

Because I have a 'thing' with Butterflies, ( also my mom and grandmother do...)
I looked up Damien Hirst's butterfly prints on the web before I went along to this exhibition – and I wasn't really impressed.

Butterflies are so beautiful in real life that it's hard to rival them in art. But then I walked into the gallery, saw the 120 creatures hanging in rows on the wall, and thought: "Wow!"

It's just like seeing a load of dead specimens in a display cabinet, except that Hirst has cheekily played around with their colours, and lit them up so they shine. He's used four species, two of which I recognised: the morpho cypris (a bright, shiny blue one from South America) and the African giant blue (second largest in Africa). The prints are anatomically correct – you can even see all the veins in the wings. But what knocked me out was seeing the morpho cypris in purple: if you got one that colour in real life, it would have a hard time, since butterflies recognise their mates by the colour of their wings.

In his notes to the exhibition, Hirst says he's intrigued by the idea that butterflies represent the soul. Throughout history, butterflies have symbolised both renewal and the souls of the dead passing through. One picture made me think about that. At first, I thought it was just an empty frame, then I realised it contained a perfectly white butterfly on a white background. You don't get that in nature – most white ones are tinged with black. It looked like a perfectly pure soul.
Totally loved it!