Cintia with Cast Cicada
Skins
Calle San Jose, Paraguay 1996
James Patton
The cast skins of the giant cicada were found littering the underside
of leaves and the rough girth of trees all around the village in late
spring, after the adults emerged from their last instar, or adolescent,
stage. Called Cigarra in Spanish or Ña Ky Ra Pire Kue in Guaraní
(something along the lines of "the old skin of those that will have
a wicked tongue", perhaps referring to the voluminous cacophony that
the adult insects shrieked incessantly down from the trees), Cintia and
I spent the afternoon gathering handfuls of them which she hung on herself
like brooches. The photograph was taken as a series of shots experimenting
with the flat, grainy quality of 2,500 ASA film.
© 2002 The
Fletcher School, Tufts University