ANT HILL ART

Looks beautiful isn't it?

Unfortunately, it was once their home.

 

I am not sure how many people would have heard about Ant Hill Art. But this kind of metal casting is making it big in the markets as a collector’s item and in the lines of home décor.

This is how they do it. They choose an ant hill and pour molten metal of aluminium or zinc into it. The molten metal fills up the tunnels, chambers and crevices created by the ants, forming a solid model of an ant hill once cooled. Then they excavate the metal from the earth and clean it. Result: Breathtakingly incredible structure of an Ant Hill.

Well, it does help to study the amazing structure of an ant hill. But when that turns into an Art, it becomes appalling. It is perfectly fine if the ant hill was an abandoned one, but otherwise it is a question of humanity towards other creatures. Just the thought of killing so many colonies of ants in the name of an art or hobby sounds horrendous.

Some of them who create such pieces, clear the ant hill allowing the ants to relocate prior to pouring the molten metal cast. At least these people try not to kill an entire colony if not a few of them. But that's ok, (though the ants still have to start all over again to build a new nest for their colony) while there are others who don’t have the slightest compassion towards these creatures. I understand if the ants had occupied your house; they become a pest. But when they are out in the wild, why would anyone want to go hunting and destroy their nests? We show empathy to those of our kind who had lost their homes and their families in a volcanic eruption, but don’t you think by pouring molten metal into an ant hill, the same kind of harm is caused to the ant colonies by burning them alive? And we might never know how many dead ants are still inside each pieces of these metal casts, if at all they were created when the ants were still inhabiting the ant hill.

Killing in the name of Art is NOT an Art. I guess we are waiting for a group of biologists to make some kind of an announcement to stop people from destroying their nests. I’m sure by then, someone else would have started to look out for ways to use other species in the name of fashion and art. And we talk about cruelty towards animals when we can’t understand all living creatures, irrespective of their size or nature, feel the same way when tortured or killed. Well, I did not mean everyone, just those who are yet to realize it.