Tolly Nason glass installation
Seeing the Light Finch by Finch, Tolly Nelson
A glass installation by Tolly Nason makes an interesting addition to Cambridge Museum of Zoology’s Darwin festivities (until 15 September)
The museum is celebrating the bicentenary of Darwin’s birth with a year-long calendar of events but Tolly Nason’s is perhaps the most colourful contribution to the festivities. Called Seeing the Light Finch by Finch, the installation is made up of a series of glowing red, cast-glass sculptures displayed on a series of waist-high plinths in a row across the gallery. Each one is in the shape of a different type of finch head, but as they’re magnified to 20 times their real size, they initially come across as colourful abstract sculptures and make a striking contrast to the bland background display cases. They’re based on the different finches Darwin studied during his ground-breaking trip to the Galapagos Islands and each one is slightly different. It was these differences – particularly in beak shape – that later led Darwin to work out his ideas about the transmutation of the species and evolution. By accurately reproducing the different shapes of beaks, Nelson has provided an unusual – and colourful – visual aid to understanding how this theory developed.
www.thebowerhousegallery.co.uk
www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/museum
