The Mosquitoes of Finland and Northern Europe. Book and photo exhibition (Mosquitoes: The Beauty Behind the Bite)

Mosquitoes are a scourge of the northern European summer for many, but this four-year project will convey their importance beyond the welts left after they bite. The primary purpose of the project is to compile and publish a book, ‘The Mosquitoes of Finland and Northern Europe’, which will describe and document the 52 mosquito species native to Finland, Sweden and/or Norway. The book is intended for specialist scientists and amateur enthusiasts alike and will make species-specific information for northern Europe more accessible. Drawing from my existing data and new collections, the book will combine text, line drawings of whole larvae and pupae, scanning electron microscope photographs, stacked and single-image photos of eggs, larvae, pupae, adult females and adult males, and identification keys and maps. It will provide the most comprehensive documentation on all of the 53 species found in northern Europe. Since many species from this region are also distributed in southern Europe and the Holarctic region, it will appeal to a wider readership beyond Finland, Sweden and Norway, and its maps and photos will significantly broaden the potential audience beyond entomologists alone. Secondarily, this project will demonstrate that beyond nuisance pests, mosquitoes are fascinating, beautiful and unique, albeit in their own ways. I will achieve this by creating an exhibition of photographs entitled ’Mosquitoes: The Beauty Behind the Bite’. Using some of the images taken for the book, this exhibition will extend beyond the more formulaic photographs and use the mosquito life cycle as a basis to challenge common perceptions of beauty. Images will extend from the broader landscape in which mosquitoes live down to the smallest patterns on the outer surface of mosquito eggs, and everything between. Work will be carried out in cooperation with the University of Helsinki, and involve collaboration with contributors in Norway and Sweden.