Specimen

Specimen Patricia Chauncey 2011 Mixed textile process

Vivid dreams with my afternoon nap.

Dreams of being underwater and floating through sea weed. Tiny creatures devouring everything in sight.
Too small to do damage to anything larger than a pebble. But greedy and perpetual grazers.

I am fascinated by their voracity.

I watch and they start to move in slow circles. Florescent. Like someone using Glo sticks to create patterns in the dark. They start to create a vortex and pull others into their circle. Each slow circle sucked into the other in a rocking but consistent rhythm.

I know that each one is barely aware of the other. There is no leader. Not one creature left out. But each propelled to join the spin. It becomes an inescapable sensation. Soft swirls. Soft pulses. Soft light.
 It stops abruptly and each leaves the circle.  And are once again solitary diners.

I grab one and it is so delicate. It is wrapped tissue and fibres. There is nothing internal. The creatures have worked together to create each body. Nothing but tissue and fibrous strand woven together.. And when touched they turn to powder.