"terrarium"

"terrarium" (detail view)

Statement

This work is a mockery of man's insatiable need to domesticate other species for utility and amusement as he sees fit. Jumping beans are employed as specimens in a sealed terrarium.

The beans serve as a poignant example of the one-sided relationship that can occur between man and a domesticated species. While consumers benefit from the amusement of imported jumping beans, the moth larvae -- responsible for the beans' "jumping" -- inside the beans suffer a disruption in their life cycle. Only a few beans successfully hatch a moth in the wild, and by geographically displacing the beans from their native territory through export it all but eliminates the chances of a hatched moth finding a mate and completing its life cycle.*

*Sources: i, ii

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© 2002 andrew o'malley