Natural Histories Series

Janis A. Tomlinson, Director of University Museums, University of Delaware, best described this work in 2012 when the series first was exhibited at the University Museum:

“The Natural History Series is densely visual: layered, carved, silkscreened, painted, sanded. With images appropriated from old engravings combined with silkscreened texts of natural history, they appear as archaeological artifacts of the learning of past ages. Bradley removes the trace of her hand through the process of these multiple techniques; the resulting panels remind us of the worn imagery of ancient murals, their colors faded by nature. Incorporating illustrations of animals from the Renaissance to the twentieth century, celestial charts, mythical and allegorical figures, her work reflects the enduring human desire to comprehend and document the workings of the natural world. Fragments rediscovered and combined are transformed into contemporary natural histories.”