Tessa Farmer: Nymphidia

Tessa Farmer is an artist and enchanted entomologist, who endears herself to the researcher, explorer and natural historian alike. Her work presents a fluttering, cluttering aesthetic of fairy creatures and magical taxidermy. This exhibition takes its name from Michael Drayton’s seventeenth century fairy poem of the same title, 'Nymphidia'. A thorough read through reveals its innate appeal to Farmer, whose art is likewise bursting at the seams with curiosities, literary references and art historical allusions. Indeed the fantastical, other-worldly imaginations of Shakespeare, Bosch, Machen and Conan Doyle have all been mentioned in relation to her work.