In art, butterflies frequently symbolize freedom, flying away from our earthly cares and gliding effortlessly through the sunny skies. The sculpture “Taking Flight” in front of a shelter for women in Boise, Idaho is an example of the symbolism. The statue features a woman with two young children releasing a butterfly into the air.
Taking Flight
Photo: cityofboise.org
The
sculpture has been in the news recently because the butterfly in the sculpture keeps “taking flight” with the aid of vandals. This year the butterfly was taken by a group of Teenagers in late March and was “returned” in April to a nearby bench. The shelter recently had the butterfly reattached. Now it is once again missing. A similar situation occurred with the Boll Weevil statue in Enterprise, Alabama. The Boll Weevil was removed from the statue by vandals so frequently, the Boll Weevil statue was finally displayed indoors out of harms way and a replica placed on the statue.
Insects make great contributions to our human experience. The lack of appreciation of public art by too many citizens is one of the reasons why we don’t have more nice things.
Close up of Missing Butterfly
Photo KBOI2.com
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About jjneal
Jonathan Neal is a retired Associate Professor of Entomology at Purdue University and author of the textbook, Living With Insects (2010).
This blog is a forum to communicate about the intersection of insects with people and policy. This is a personal blog.
The opinions and materials posted here are those of the author and are in no way connected with those of my employer.
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