One of my ongoing projects – 1, 13, 17 Years – centers on fascinating temporal insects known as cicadas, which inhabit specific isolated areas throughout the Northeast. Buried underground for the majority of their lives, cicadas emerge for only a brief few weeks at the very end of their life cycles. A special species of cicada, known as the magicicada, waits underground an incredible 17 years, emerges in a swarm of billions, and dies a mere month after emerging.

Magicicadas are one of the most fascinating insects on the planet, and perhaps the most misunderstood. Often being mistaken for locusts, magicicadas are treated by the unknowing public as pests. In reality cicadas are completely harmless to humans; they have no stingers nor mouths to bite with, and they have hugely beneficial impacts on surrounding fauna. Bird, squirrel, mole, and fox populations thrive during the years after a cicada swarm.

So much can happen in the 17 years between emergences. Forests can be leveled, factories built, generations born. Roads, sidewalks, and other features of civil infrastructure are impenetrable to emerging cicadas. Fluctuating temperatures are also throwing them off of their vital 17 year cycle. Each generation of cicada is smaller than the last. Of the 17 known “broods” of magicicadas, Brood XI and Brood XXI are already extinct. If human expansionism, pesticide usage, and climate change continue to go unchecked, one year there will be no emergences to witness, and no more cicada songs to hear.

In an attempt to document the saga of these insects, every summer I hike in wooded areas around New York and collect hundreds of exoskeletons shed by the emerging cicadas. I paint each cicada skin a lustrous gold, emphasizing their ecological value, and use them for site-specific installations throughout New York City. The resulting installations pay homage to the fragility of nature and the life-to-death journey of these amazing creatures.

PURCHASE INFO:  Every cicada installation comes with a Certificate of Authenticity and an Installation Manual (though I’m always happy to install personally within the NYC area!).  To purchase your own installation, visit my ArtSpace page : https://www.artspace.com/laura-murray.  You can also purchase smaller cicada sculptures on my Etsy page: https://www.etsy.com/shop/LauraMurrayFineArt

Inquiries can be sent to lauramurrayfineart@gmail.com.

1, 13, 17 Years at Galerist. Istanbul. 2016.

1, 13, 17 Years at Postmasters Gallery. New York, NY. 2016. Photo Credit: @picklebeholding

1, 13, 17 Years at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office. New York, NY. 2017.

Packing up cicadas for a show!

1, 13, 17 Years at Postmasters. New York, NY. 2016.

Jewelry box cicada

Exuvia: A jewel-like sculpture made from a real cicada skin.

1, 13, 17 Years at Cindy Rucker Gallery. New York, NY. 2014.

Jewelry box cicada

1, 13, 17 Years.

1, 13, 17 Years at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office. New York, NY. 2017.

Playing with the merchandise

Cicada friend hidden in a bathroom….Come find me!

The making of jewelry-box cicadas

1, 13, 17 Years at Snug Harbor Cultural Center. Staten Island, NY. 2013.

1, 13, 17 Years at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office. New York, NY. 2017.

1, 13, 17 Years at Cindy Rucker Gallery. New York, NY. 2014.

1, 13, 17 Years at Postmasters. New York, NY. 2016.

1, 13, 17 Years at Cindy Rucker Gallery. New York, NY. 2014.

1, 13, 17 Years at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office. New York, NY. 2017.

Exuvia: A jewel-like sculpture made from a real cicada skin.

1, 13, 17 Years at Galerist. Istanbul. 2016.

1, 13, 17 Years at Snug Harbor Cultural Center. Staten Island, NY. 2013.