Ellies Review – Beauty and the Beasts “falling in love with insects”
Beauty and the Beasts is an exhibition, exhibited at The Manchester Museum. It showcases a wide range of insects and their habitats. The aim is to get people to understand that insects aren’t scary, that they are actually really beautiful. For example, the colours, they can be quite dark or overly bright like red, which seems intimidating, but it’s only the reflection of the light creating those colours and their body surface type, like silk; I never knew this. It shows how insects are a huge part of our life and how they provide for us and our living environment, they’re not something that gets in the way, or should be killed out of fear.
The exhibition is accommodated to everyone. It’s a popular exhibition, over the short time of it being up, it’s attracted a lot of families and schools. Also, students studying textiles and photography love coming in to see this exhibition, it explains what it’s about so clearly which is really helpful for people who are new to these types of exhibits. With being in this location itis a perfect place to explore all aspects and learn about things that help us live on a day to day basis.
I love how the exhibition is displayed. Clear glass cases make it easy to see inside, whilst keeping it protected. There are also codes on each case you can look up, which explains in further detail about the insects and their habitats, with close up pictures too.
It is accessible for everybody, suitable to help people get from sections to sections easily as possible and whilst the exhibition presents a lot of displays around the room, it is still very spacious which makes observing pressure free and calming. It’s great for younger people who may not fully understand the exhibition yet too because there is equipment and tasks they can do to stay involved which is fun for everyone else also. For example, using special microscopes to see extremely up close to the insects and seeing their forms can beautiful colours within them that our eyes don’t see.
What I think would make it even better is having more of a hands-on and creative section. Like drawing one of the insects you have to find, having a quiz sheet to fill out which is a great family task and also having some fake but realistic examples of the insects you can touch and to get a real feel of them. I think this exhibition is so fascinating and educational, everyone should come at least once to experience this amazing exhibit.
