Butterfly Taxidermy by Ciserra
2026
40 × 40 × 8 inches, framed in black
La chispa is part of an ongoing body of kaleidoscopic works constructed from ethically sourced butterfly wings, each piece built as both composition and offering.
The work begins with a moment the artist wants to share with her grandmother, who passed before she discovered her artistic practice. Raised with the belief that butterflies are messengers from loved ones, these works function as a kind of ongoing dialogue—part memory, part prayer. Through repetition and symmetry, each composition becomes a space where personal history and present experience meet.
Sourcing the material is a deliberate and time-intensive process. The artist works with conservation-focused butterfly sanctuaries that support repopulation efforts, selecting specimens for specific color and scale. Once in the studio, each butterfly is deconstructed and the wings are reconfigured, layer by layer, into a radial structure. Pieces are often reworked dozens of times until the composition reaches a point the artist describes as “vibrating”—a visual and physical sense of completion.
In La chispa, the structure takes on the form of a contained ignition. Built from a dark center outward, the work evokes the moment a spark catches and begins to expand. Drawing on a longstanding fascination with fire—its warmth, its danger, its inevitability—the piece explores the tension between beauty and impermanence.
While rooted in natural forms, the work is highly controlled. The artist approaches the butterfly not as something to transform, but to honor—working in collaboration with its existing color, pattern, and fragility. In this way, the composition becomes both an act of construction and an act of restraint.
La chispa (Spanish for “the spark”) pays homage to the artist’s heritage and to the quiet, persistent forces that initiate change. From a small, dark place, a spark catches.
Butterfly Taxidermy by Ciserra
2026
40 × 40 × 8 inches, framed in black
La chispa is part of an ongoing body of kaleidoscopic works constructed from ethically sourced butterfly wings, each piece built as both composition and offering.
The work begins with a moment the artist wants to share with her grandmother, who passed before she discovered her artistic practice. Raised with the belief that butterflies are messengers from loved ones, these works function as a kind of ongoing dialogue—part memory, part prayer. Through repetition and symmetry, each composition becomes a space where personal history and present experience meet.
Sourcing the material is a deliberate and time-intensive process. The artist works with conservation-focused butterfly sanctuaries that support repopulation efforts, selecting specimens for specific color and scale. Once in the studio, each butterfly is deconstructed and the wings are reconfigured, layer by layer, into a radial structure. Pieces are often reworked dozens of times until the composition reaches a point the artist describes as “vibrating”—a visual and physical sense of completion.
In La chispa, the structure takes on the form of a contained ignition. Built from a dark center outward, the work evokes the moment a spark catches and begins to expand. Drawing on a longstanding fascination with fire—its warmth, its danger, its inevitability—the piece explores the tension between beauty and impermanence.
While rooted in natural forms, the work is highly controlled. The artist approaches the butterfly not as something to transform, but to honor—working in collaboration with its existing color, pattern, and fragility. In this way, the composition becomes both an act of construction and an act of restraint.
La chispa (Spanish for “the spark”) pays homage to the artist’s heritage and to the quiet, persistent forces that initiate change. From a small, dark place, a spark catches.
