The Dreamlife of Mayflies - Susan Silas

This photograph was taken on the Tisza River in Hungary near the town of Tiszakürt. It is part of a series of images entitled “The Dreamlife of Mayflies”. This will be the first printing of this image.

Author: My work has dealt for a long time with the fragility of sentient being. The Tisza mayfly lays dormant in the river for three years in its larval stage but its life out in the open air is a mere three hours. Once it emerges into the light of day its life consists of sex, procreation and death. The frenzy that takes place when these mayflies erupt from the surface of the water is unlike anything I have ever seen or heard. Sitting on the water surface in a small boat one is completely engulfed in the sound of them. This image is a forward scout for a larger project that is still in progress.

Todd: I know I like Susan's photograph of mayflies, but some days I find it beautiful and other times it seems a bit disturbing.  This seems to fit my unease about the life cycle of these creatures... as I'm also not sure if having such a short period of time during which to love and fly is romantic or tragic.  This image, like much of Susan's work, straddles a line that shows how wonderful our temporal lives can be, but also how difficult it is to come to terms with the end.  While the entire image is alive with this frenzy of activity, my favorite moment of the picture is that individual mayfly in flight above the water in what seems to me as an attempt to escape his/her impending death.

Honza: In Czech we often refer to mayflies as an adjective to describe something that lasts for very short period of time. We know “mayflies” as an expression rather than the amazing creature. When I was a child, I didn't have any idea that the mayfly actually lives as a larva for three years and then as an adult it doesn't have any mouth, because it's too busy during it's three hours of life to find as many sexual partners as possible. I was just sorry for it, living only a few hours. Now I see it's not that bad for mayflies at all; I guess they probably live a very enjoyable life (for an insect's standards anyway). And I'm also happy for them that Susan Silas managed to capture their short life in such aesthetic way, and they'll keep “flying” for a hundred years on our archival prints, pretending to be noble birds above the water surface.

Read more about Susan's photograph here.