Ladybirds Help Davenport's Career Take Off
Illawarra Mercury
Wednesday March 3, 2004
WOMBARRA photographer Jane Davenport lives in a fantasy land - and it's paying off.
Several years ago the effervescent photographer decided that happiness was to make a living sitting in a beautiful garden watching the microscopic world of bugs buzz by.
Last year she took her improbable idea to the Wollongong Botanic Garden and became an artist in residence in the leafy grounds.
There she set about finding her very own Narnia through the lens of a camera rather than through a wardrobe door.
The result, a luscious exhibition of huge, heartwarming insect images called the Ladybird Chronicles, has earned Davenport remarkable national success - and she's now preparing to step onto the international stage.
In April, Davenport will be a feature presenter at the World Botanic Gardens Congress in Barcelona.
``I so much want to put our little Illawarra on the map. Wouldn't it be great if the images could travel Europe?" she said.
And just when she thought her Alice in Wonderland dream couldn't get any more surreal another invite appeared in her letterbox - this time to a conference in the United States called Invertebrates in Captivity.
``Poor little crickets behind bars," she mused.
Davenport, who sprinkles her conversation with colour like hundreds and thousands on fairy bread, is thrilled about her new life because it marries her two great loves - art and the environment.
``It's my job to sit in a garden all day and observe nature," she said.
But her images come with a strong environmental message.
``I want to encourage people to appreciate and even love bugs which usually have a bad reputation because of a few pesty species but the vast majority of which are gorgeous little things," she said.
``Whenever we use pesticides we destroy all the good bugs as well as the bad bugs and ultimately ourselves - we are at the top of the food chain so it all comes back to us in the end."
Illawarra residents have one last chance to step into Davenport's magical world before the Ladybird Chronicles begins its national tour. Her work will be featured at an anniversary celebration at Articles Fine Art Gallery in Stanwell Park on Saturday.
© 2004 Illawarra Mercury
