Across a series of photographs and video animations (each presented on miniature LCD screens), Best digitally ‘reintroduces’ a number of indigenous birds and insects, plants, mammals and amphibians — marsh warblers, ground beetles, Fen orchids, water voles and common frogs amongst them — into landscapes where they are now seldom or no longer seen. Using specimens from local museum collections, Best employs simple techniques to place them within a digital diorama of their previous habitats, although the stylised nature of the works, in which the wildlife does not seem quite to ‘belong’ or fit in situ, produces a disquieting effect — reminding us that what we have lost can never really be fully recovered. Where once these species were virtually extinct, they have now returned, but only virtually.

Commissioned as part of ‘Silicon Fen’, a collaboration between Norwich School of Art and Design and Film and Video Umbrella in association with BCA Gallery, Bedford, Kings Lynn Art Centre, Peterborough Digital Arts, and Babylon Gallery, Ely.

Supported by the regional arts lottery programme of Arts Council England - East.