Customer Reviews

Catherine Chalmers: American Cockroach

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Seeing that this remarkable collection hasn't been reviewed yet I thought I'd put in my two cents. To be truthful I don't own the book but I have looked through it carefully and I'm sure I'll buy it one of these days.

The book is a collection of close up photographs of cockroaches being anthropomorphised through constructed sets (like a dollhouse) and poses. The result is quite humorous and profoundly creepy.

Some of the compositions seem to echo William Wegman and his dogs, and others Anne Geddes and her babies. You could call it a homage, but I prefer to think of it as a blistering satire. That may reflect my own artistic taste, rather than that of the artist.

Few people would imagine themselves developing a sympathy for cockroaches, but the section of black and white photographs featuring tortured and dead insects is suprisingly poignant, perhaps because the preceeding chapters work so hard to portray the insect in human terms.

Obviously you have to decide for yourself whether the subject matter is for you. What I can say is that the concept is creative and well executed.

I bought this book last year because I needed cockroach reference photos for my work. Well I got that alright and much more. The details are great and after leafing through scientific books, this was a treat.
Now for those of you interested in it for entertainment value, well, this has to be near the top of the list for a conversation starting coffee table book. Wow! The photos are detailed, well lit, the buggers are well staged and I think it will cause every reaction in people from screams and horror to outright laughter. It really is both an awesome idea as well as an awesome execution (no pun intended) of that idea.