Design
Why Are Swarms of Butterflies Appearing in Indianapolis?
Inside one artist's mission to cover the city with blue bugs.
If you've been in Indianapolis recently, you might've noticed some of Tasha Lewis' beloved pets out on the loose. The 22-year-old sculptor has been surreptitiously moving her colony of fabric butterflies around to different public places, transforming doors, newspaper boxes and even a Robert Indiana statue into sudden insectoid orgies.
Lewis uses an old photographic method called cyanotype to build her winged critters. By coating fabric with a chemical and exposing it to sunlight, she's able to make exoskeletons realistic enough to make you lunge for a net. A little magnet sewn into the back of each creature allows it to cling to iron railings, staple-covered phone poles, the metal plate in somebody's head, etc.