The Illusion of Orderly Progress

by Barbara P. Norfleet

From one of America's most distinguished and quirkily gifted photographers, a wildly original book of images that chronicles--and critiques--the curiously familiar social life of bugs.

        Barbara Norfleet loves bugs for both their beauty and their strangeness, and the fact that they've been on earth so much longer than the human race that they make us look like new kids on the block.  In this remarkable collection, she sets out to explore her own vision of bug society--its feelings, its relationships and rituals, its neuroses and malaises at the end of what is, after all,  just one more millennium in bug history. From a grasshopper poised triumphantly atop a rock and a spindly-armed pair of Harlequin beetles dancing, to a group of twittering bugs gathered to watch the sun set, a beetle beauty pageant, and a bug hanging, Norfleet captures with extraordinary humor and perception an amazing reflection of our own experience and feelings. Most wonderful of all is what we are led to discover--that bugs are us.

Genres: Photography, Art, Humor

101 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kudos for originality. Norfleet, a photographer and founder, director, and curator of The Photography Collection at the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard, has masterfully constructed still lifes of insects, mainly exotic beetles, and photographed these still lifes, using bugs to humorously and piercingly portray human foibles, particularly the foolish and vainglorious varieties. In the back, there’s a classification of the various insects depicted in the photographs, for the more erudite bug lovers.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

A most singular book, consisting of dioramas of insects posed as if they were undertaking human endeavors, such as fighting a battle or engaged in meaningless labor. There's a point here, of course, and but it's left to the reader to infer what is being illustrated about the human (vs. insect) condition.

Stunning photographs, though, no question about that.

[Fishface · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an exceptionally fine collection of photographs. The photographer uses all sorts of fabulous insects, sticks, rocks, driftwood and so on to make statements about human folly. This book tends to prove what I've been saying all along, that insects are truly the universal language.

[ccoelophysis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite "non-reading" book. Beautiful backgrounds and beautiful insects are used to show just how ugly humans can be. It packs a real punch.