C  A  T  H  E  R  I  N  E     C  H  A  L  M  E  R  S
Catherine Chalmers is best known for her images of the American cockroach (Periplaneta americana), a primeval creature that has skillfully and insidiously infiltrated urban environments and is, therefore, despised by humans. Chalmers's generous attention to the lowly cockroach finds its epic denouement in the video Safari (2006), which makes its debut here and which constitutes the third part of her video trilogy on the roach. Safari is an evolutionary melodrama: here the cockroach emerges from the primordial sea, crawling on land for the first time. Then, navigating the lush, verdant jungle alongside Chalmers's ground-hugging camera, the cockroach encounters oversized insects, amphibians, and reptiles. When two gigantic rhinoceros beetles lock horns in aggressive combat, it is like 1950s Sci Fi movies in which irradiated insects rule the earth. Yet this intimate vantage point also magnifies the striking physical beauty of these tiny creatures, inviting an appreciative reappraisal of numerous species we typically overlook or devalue as mere pests.