Academia – Claire Engkaninan Low

Academia, a winter show, dives deeply into two of Claire Engkaninan Low's lifelong passions: Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) rendered in scientific detail, and classical statues featuring the beautiful human form carved in marble.

It’s the very show you would create if you went hunting for shell cameos in London antique stores as a teenager (Claire did), it’s for those with dog-eared copies of The Secret History, it’s for those who eschew the beach on searing days in favour of the State Library’s massive reading room, only to gawk at the Wedgwood in the hallways (as she does).

In addition to a curated collection of new paintings that extend out and further develop two existing series of work, Academia will also showcase ‘Specimens’, 26 miniature paintings of moths and butterflies, from A-Z, by scientific name, last seen in City of Ryde’s Sustainable Waste to Art Prize where it last year won the People’s Choice.