Suky Best – The Return of the Native

23 April - 5 June 2005

The Fens have always been a managed and constructed landscape; however, contemporary use of the land has exacerbated the loss of the range of flora and fauna. Over the last fifty years in particular, the volume and variety of birds and insects in this part of the country has declined dramatically. In The Return of the Native, Suky Best highlights a small number of wildlife species that were once commonplace in the East Anglian Fenland and whose numbers have diminished. They are now deemed rare, endangered or extinct in the region.

The Return of the Native is a series of six striking digital animations of insects and birds, including a Bearded Tit, a Large Copper Butterfly and two Soldier Flies. Using specimens taken mainly from the natural history collections at Bedford Museum, Best brings the creatures back to life and reintegrates them digitally in a contemporary Fenland location. The animations are presented on miniature screens, which play simultaneously and work to emphasise each specimen’s unique and rare status.

In addition to the animation series there are a number of equally evocative printed works also featuring rare and extinct flora and fauna that have been temporarily returned to their original Fenland home. The scenes depicted in The Return of the Native appear constructed, a deliberate attempt by Best to remind us that the images do not represent reality, but allude to a sad sense of loss.

Commissioned as part of Silicon Fen
Silicon Fen is a collaboration between Norwich School of Art and Design and Film and Video Umbrella in association with BCA Gallery, Bedford, Kings Lynn Arts Centre, Peterborough Digital Arts and Babylon Gallery, Ely. Supported by the regional arts lottery programme of Arts Council England East.