Date of Award
Spring 5-22-2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
Illustration
First Advisor
Leela Corman
Second Advisor
Sage Gerson
Third Advisor
Aidan Koch
Abstract
Love Letters to Insects is a series of artists’ books that, mimicking a scientific insect collection, asks how visual narrative can shape and reframe our relationship to our environment.
Delving into the historical construction of the nature-culture divide, my thesis considers how colonial history has shaped modes of representation in Latin America that distance, objectify, and “other” living beings. Engaging with science, history, philosophy, and decolonial and Indigenous perspectives, as well as the work of comic artists and theorists, I think about the way I learned to interact with my environment and find in visual storytelling a place to challenge and resist the violent inherited narratives of scientific approaches.In eight illustrated letters that center on play, motion, intimacy, and relational thinking, I revisit my personal experience and relationship with insects. Reflecting on a haptic approach to drawing and my sketchbook practice, I explore each insect as a new lens of perception. In this way, “learning about” insects becomes “learning from” insects.
In the context of an environmental emergency marked by extraction, extinction, and global warming, this project responds to the urgent need to change our relationship with non-human life. An “affective” approach in scientific communication becomes essential for the way we learn about our surroundings.
Recommended Citation
Guzmán, Manuela, "Love Letters to Insects: Affect-based science communication" (2026). Masters Theses. 1626.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/1626
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