PAULA HUMBERG

Side Catch is a collection of insects and other invertebrates. Entomological collections are typically made with a scientific or an aesthetic objective, and collected animals are neatly pinned into boxes. At first glance, my collection seems quite ordinary, though poorly built, but it is made of individuals that are in one way or another considered useless or not worth collecting.

The name Side Catch refers especially to the collection part that constitutes of real side catch material a biologist caught while collecting insects for his research. Normally this material would be waste, but I wanted to focus on individuals that were classified as scientifically meaningless. The rest of the collection contains honeybees and personal “side catch”. I spent many months salvaging pests, such as mosquitos, and some of the unfortunate invertebrates I killed by accident. The bees come from farmers who lose some of their stock each winter. Honeybees and other pollinators are vanishing at an alarming rate; for example, in some parts of China farmers are forced to pollinate fruit tree flowers by hand. This lead me to wonder if ordinary bees could some day become rare sought-after collection specimens.

As a biology undergraduate student I am interested in scientific methods and conventions, particularly in the field of zoology. Certain rules apply to building entomological collection, and interestingly many of them are aesthetic – the animals should be pinned in upright position, butterfly wings are to be positioned at correct angle etc. My collection purposely breaks some of these rules. Own Collections I-IV also include a data sheet with information on the method of killing, collecting point coordinates, date and personal notes.

The project has received funding from Finnish Cultural Foundation.