When Silence Takes Flight / Wenn die Stille Flügel trägt

ARTIST STATEMENT

In the 1970s, butterflies were familiar companions of my childhood—vivid symbols of freedom, lightness, and the beauty of nature. Meadows were alive with their colorful fluttering, a spectacle deeply rooted in my memory.

Today, their habitats are disappearing as a result of climate change, intensive agriculture, and environmental pressures. With the loss of butterflies, we are not only losing fascinating living beings, but also essential components of our ecosystems and a precious part of natural diversity.

Butterflies captivate us with their delicate beauty, luminous colors, and apparent weightlessness. Since ancient times, they have been regarded as symbols of the soul, transformation, and resurrection—wonders of nature that, with every beat of their wings, remind us of the fragility of life. Their dance through the world embodies the beauty of the fleeting moment—a quiet impulse toward mindfulness, contemplation, and a conscious awareness of what surrounds us and what is worth preserving.

The series When Silence Takes Flight features 40–50-year-old butterfly specimens from the Alpine foothills and the Salzkammergut, documented from a systematically curated private lepidopterological collection.

Photographic images of marble surfaces form the background of the works—a material that has symbolized permanence and spiritual elevation across cultures. In antiquity, marble stood for immortality and divine order; in Indian and Islamic cultures, it represented the connection between the earthly and the transcendent; and in the European Renaissance, it was used in churches and sculpture as an expression of purity and spiritual presence. The combination of marble and butterflies in this series brings together eternal stability and fleeting beauty—the ephemeral moment preserved within the eternal.

A central visual element of the series is the use of three-dimensionally applied 24-carat gold elements. These partially obscure the butterflies, symbolically referencing their disappearance. At the same time, the precious metal draws the viewer’s gaze, granting the butterflies heightened visibility and significance, while pointing to the value of nature and humanity’s responsibility for its preservation.

Despite the golden overlays, the butterflies remain visible—a reminder that loss is not always final, and that hope endures.

When Silence Takes Flight is an aesthetic plea for the preservation of biodiversity and a quiet call to mindfulness in maintaining the fragile balance between humans and nature—a flutter from the past, carried by hope for the future.

Exhibition: Stift Klosterneuburg Vinothek