Diana Thater
Indestructible Wonder
August 18, 2016 - January 29, 2017
San Jose Museum of Art
110 S Market Street
San Jose, CA 95110
On view for the first time in Indestructible Wonder is the important recent acquisition Untitled (Butterfly Videowall #2) (2008), a video installation by Diana Thater. Thater filmed monarch butterflies as they rested on the ground at El Rosario Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary in Michoacán, Mexico, where millions of monarchs hibernate after their long migration from Canada. Due, in part, to the lack of foliage in which the butterflies normally take refuge, their only option was to gather together on the forest floor—an extremely vulnerable position. By placing upturned monitors on the gallery floor, Thater created a meditative experience through which to consider the lives of other creatures who share this planet.