{"id":49903,"date":"2026-05-12T13:29:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T13:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bethanien.de\/exhibitions\/the-first-killing-of-a-butterfly\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T13:04:41","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T13:04:41","slug":"the-first-killing-of-a-butterfly","status":"publish","type":"kb_exhibition","link":"https:\/\/bethanien.de\/en\/exhibitions\/the-first-killing-of-a-butterfly\/","title":{"rendered":"The First Killing of a Butterfly"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Even before you enter, you can see the first pair of wings. The deconstructed birds from the painting <em>Butcher Bird<\/em> guide you into the space, while the outline of a mounted butterfly rises up to the side. The title of the exhibition, <em>The First Killing of a Butterfly,<\/em> sets the tone.<\/p>\n<p>Next, the eye is caught by a book, <em>Amalie Dietrich: Ein Leben<\/em>. This biography, which examines the difficult legacy of the nineteenth-century German naturalist, is the starting point of the works shown here. Madeleine Kelly focuses on the birds that Amalie Dietrich \u201ccollected\u201d in Australia between 1863 and 1873.<\/p>\n<p>The Australian artist\u2019s painting <em>Bird Trap Line<\/em> (2026) reminds us that this act of collection was always one of violent capture. Arranging them on delicate lines, she brings back to life the waterbirds who are now preserved specimens in the collections of the Natural History Museum Bamberg. By doing so, she creates a tension between strictly geometrical order and the imperfections of the natural world. This is also apparent in Madeleine Kelly\u2019s <em>Rainbow Lorikeet<\/em> (2026). The outlines of this bird\u2019s vertebrae in the collection of the Museum of Natural History Berlin are precisely painted, causing the deviations from grid\u2019s exact circles to stand out all the more.<\/p>\n<p>A symbolically charged scene also emerges in <em>Lighting Treasures<\/em> (2026), in which Amalie Dietrich\u2019s botanical legacy turns into enigmatic emblems, as <em>Acacia dietrichiana<\/em> and <em>Bonamia dietrichiana<\/em> can only be discerned schematically. Like all finds, they were classified according to European methods and thus incorporated into a colonial system of knowledge.<\/p>\n<p>The exact identification of species also plays an essential role in Madeleine Kelly\u2019s artistic process. Meticulous research and a deep understanding of her pictorial motifs form the basis of her work. This is evident in her ongoing series <em>Grey Heron and Waterfowl Kin<\/em> (2026), which originated during her year-long stay in Berlin. A flock of colourful plastics birds lures us deeper into the exhibition space, inviting us to step forward and take a closer look. Layer upon layer of coloured wax on recycled drink cartons has resulted in almost playful portrayals of Berlin waterbirds, visualizing the coexistence of nature and human consumption.<\/p>\n<p>The installation <em>Collect, Collect! Gather <\/em> (2026) recalls the mission that Amalie Dietrich was tasked with when she travelled to Australia. Like mythical death masks, the monotypes reflect the processes of selection and appropriation involved: from a collection over fifty textile works, the artist has selected only the most aesthetically pleasing examples. This makes it clear that the work of the European naturalist in Australia was one of continual taking: first taking a life, then taking it to Europe. The dozens of catalogued and preserved birds, flowers and butterflies that Madeleine Kelley isolates in her work can be found today in German museums.<\/p>\n<p>Madeleine Kelly systematically explores Amalie Dietrich\u2019s collections and life, approaching them as if she were a naturalist herself, and Amalie Dietrich her object of study. It could also be the artist herself in conversation with swans of light in <em>The Naturalist\u2019s Gaze<\/em> (2026). But where appraisal and classification once took place, the artist now refuses to draw any definitive conclusions. Instead, her works use transformation and realignment to complement an aesthetic level of speculation and ambivalence that breaks up the unyielding legacy of colonial order \u2013 a reversal that successfully exposes what is apparently objective and opens up endless possibilities for reinterpretation.<\/p>\n<p>Text: Philine Pahnke<\/p>\n<p>Madeleine Kelly&#8217;s resdiency is funded by Sydney College of the Arts (University of Sydney). The exhibition is funded by Create NSW.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","categories":[],"class_list":["post-49903","kb_exhibition","type-kb_exhibition","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"article_image":50020,"article_image_bu_de":"","article_image_bu_en":"","datum_suche":"2026-05-12 00:00:00"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The First Killing of a Butterfly - Bethanien %<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bethanien.de\/en\/exhibitions\/the-first-killing-of-a-butterfly\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The First Killing of a Butterfly - Bethanien %\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Even before you enter, you can see the first pair of wings. 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