Toby Dean
Catalogue of the Unseen
This body of work interrogates scale as a mechanism of empathy for the unseen. Three large-format portraits elevate microscopic spiders into individuals, their compound eyes, chelicerae, and iridescent setae rendered at human scale with a clarity that confers personality and presence. Below, a constellation of small circular images catalogues morphological diversity within the family of spiders, the circles echoing both lens and eye. Anchoring both is a scientific ruler, recording each spider's true millimetre size, location, and scientific and common names; a deliberate rupture returning the work to fact. Together, the components ask what, and who, we fail to see at our own scale, exposing a dimension of beauty that lies beneath every step.