window — Michele Hratko

Reflecting the qualities of the Japanese Emperor Butterfly in physical space.

As the final project for a unit on butterfly form and graphic translation where students were each given a butterfly specimen to analyze over seven weeks, we were tasked with reflecting the qualities of our butterfly beyond 2D space. I decided to design butterfly decals for one of the large windows in our first-year studio that received direct sunlight. The focuses of my installation were to highlight the transparency, metamorphosis, and fleeting nature of butterflies.

Graphic Design & Installation
Time: 1 week, November 2023
Role: Sole designer
Tools: Analog paper cutting

Materiality and Interaction

I constructed the butterflies from two materials: opaque paper and colored translucent window film to reflect the transparency and fragility of butterfly wings. When direct sunlight hits the window at 8:30 to 9:15 in the mornings, it passes through the colored film, reflecting colors on the floor. Meanwhile the opaque paper pieces cast shadows, creating a blend of colored and noncolored butterflies on the floor. As the sun rises, the shadows on the floor stretch, but the light is fleeting, and once the sun moves, the shadows are gone.

I also wanted to design an installation that interacted with the window construction: it pushes up vertically, allowing the panels to overlap. As the window is opened, the overlapping transparent and opaque layers create a new composition on the window and affect the projected shadows.

Process

This project began as an exploration into how I could combine color and opacity to reflect the qualities of a Japanese Emperor Butterfly. While observing and holding the butterfly, the transparency and fragility stood out to me, inspiring me to work with light. I experimented with different papers and materials to figure out how they interacted with light on the window. I wanted materials that worked as a composition both with the sunlight shining through and during the rest of the day, as well as with the window open and closed. These constraints led to experimentations with digital mock-ups in Photoshop. My initial compositions were very detailed and decorative, so I ultimately reduced the number of elements on the window to allow the clean lines and shapes of the butterflies to take focus.

The scale of this installation made assembling it cleanly an unexpected challenge. I made a copy paper prototype of each butterfly and then used those as stencils to handcut the final butterflies. Then I taped each butterfly to the window with clear tape to ensure it would be seamless from viewers on both sides of the glass.

It was super rewarding to come into class the next day and see the orange and purple light cast across the floor as the sun streamed into our morning lecture.

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