{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1731884"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1731884/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2023NJ3065/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2023NJ3065/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2023NJ3065","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1731884/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1731884","accessionNumber":"E.882-2022","objectType":"Print","titles":[{"title":"Eyed Hawk-Moth","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Gillespie, Sarah","id":"AUTH385742"},"association":{"text":"Printmaker","id":"AAT25164"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Paper","id":"x30308"},{"text":"Ink","id":"AAT15012"}],"techniques":[{"text":"Mezzotint","id":"AAT53233"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Mezzotint","categories":[],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2023NJ3065"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLD","id":"THES49658"},"free":"","case":"DR","shelf":"185","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Print","id":"AAT41273"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Great Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"2018-2020","earliest":"2018-01-01","latest":"2020-12-31"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"E.877-2022","id":"O1731878"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"E.878-2022","id":"O1731880"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"E.879-2022","id":"O1731881"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"E.880-2022","id":"O1731882"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"E.881-2022","id":"O1731883"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"E.882-2022","id":"O1731884"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"E.883-2022","id":"O1731885"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"E.885-2022","id":"O1731887"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"E.886-2022","id":"O1731888"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"E.887-2022","id":"O1732185"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"E.888-2022","id":"O1732186"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"E.889-2022","id":"O1732187"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"E.890-2022","id":"O1732190"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"E.891-2022","id":"O1732191"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"E.892-2022","id":"O1732192"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"E.893-2022","id":"O1732193"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"E.894-2022","id":"O1732194"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"E.895-2022","id":"O1732196"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"E.896-2022","id":"O1732198"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"E.897-2022","id":"O1732200"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"E.898-2022","id":"O1732201"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"E.899-2022","id":"O1732202"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"E.900-2022","id":"O1732203"},"association":""}],"creditLine":"Given by an anonymous benefactor","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"50","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"image","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"50","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"image","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"57","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"57","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"sheet","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"7/20","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Edition"}],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"<i>Moth</i> comprises 22 mezzotints devoted to the fragile existence and brilliance of the common English moth. Printmaker, Sarah Gillespie, created this poignant and evocative prints series to highlight the catastrophic decline of this type of insect of which there are over 160,000 species worldwide. Since 1914, in Britain alone, over 60 species have become extinct due to habitat loss, intensive farming and light pollution. Moths are critical to biodiversity and the survival of other species so we should attend to their plight as Gillespie does.\r\n\r\nGillespie created the series over a period of 18 months using a simple lightbox to trap moths in her garden so that she could study, draw and photograph them whilst they sat on her desk before releasing them. Given their two-week life cycle, Gillespie was careful not to put the same trap out two nights in a row in case she should trap the same moth twice.\r\n\r\nIn mezzotint, the printmaker works upon a roughened copper plate pitted with tiny holes and dislodged fragments of metal burr, which prints a uniform black when inked and printed. To create their design, the printmaker removes increasing amounts of burr so that those areas that are more intensively scraped hold less ink and print lighter whilst those that are least scraped hold more ink and print darker. <i>Moth</i> is a unique symbiosis of form and technique in which the sooty blackness of mezzotint perfectly renders the powdery softness of its delicate subject matter.\r\n","briefDescription":"Sarah Gillespie, <i>Eyed Hawk-moth, Moth</i>, Mezzotint, 2018-2020","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Gillespie, Sarah, Moth: Mezzotints by Sarah Gillespie Introduced by Mark Cocker with a Poem by Alice Oswald, The Letter Press, 2021"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["E.882-2022"],"accessionNumberNum":"882","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":2022,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-29","recordCreationDate":"2022-10-11","availableToBook":false}}