Gallery of the Dolls

These are hard times for the moth enthusiast. I have yet to read a scientific explanation for the long interregnum taking place between the early Spring moths, of which there have been plenty but are now few, and the appearance of the early summer ones, which has yet to happen. I presume that the unseasonal chill is keeping the latter snug in their cocoons. We must just be patient.

By contrast, moths, butterflies and caterpillars abounded at this year's Saltaire Arts Trail, an excellent annual event about which I have blogged unceasingly on the Guardian Northerner. Aren't these images spooky? They are the work of Yorkshire artist Emma Wilkinson who was wafting about in the Saltaire Bookshop where these were displayed.

"They talk to me sometimes," she told me, and there was a hint that they might fly out of their cabinets at night. It reminded me of an equally spooky Victorian poem where a moth shows a visitor round his collection of netted humans, pinned in display cases.

We catch them and kill them with poison 
It's ether - a very nice way 
Just look at this fellow 
His hair is so yellow 
And his eyes such a beautiful grey. 



Eeek! Thank goodness we just use digital cameras these days...

You can find out more about Emma here and here.