The Mantis Muse

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David Shrigley’s The Mantis Muse comes to the Horniman Conservatory this Easter.

The three-metre steel and fibreglass sculpture of a praying mantis with an animatronic head will be on display in our iconic Victorian Conservatory.

The display will be free to visit in the Conservatory on the following dates:

  • 8 April
  • 11-13 April
  • 17-18 April
  • 20-21 April

On other dates and at other times you can see The Mantis Muse through the Conservatory windows from the Terrace. We also have a series of bookable events taking place around the installation at other times, including yoga, storytelling, drawing and screen printing.

The Mantis Muse was created to emphasize the importance of art in education and advocate for increased funding for arts programmes in British schools.

This is the first time the sculpture has been on public display.

David Shrigley

David Shrigley OBE was nominated for the 2013 Turner Prize, and famously designed the ‘thumbs up’ for the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square in London in 2016. He was awarded an OBE for Services for Visual Arts in 2020, and has works in collections including Museum of Modern Art in New York, Tate Britain in London, and the National Gallery of Denmark in Copenhagen.

Lead image: The Mantis Muse © Alun Callender

David Shrigley paints a picture of a praying mantis in a studio, behind him is a sculpture of a praying mantis
David Shrigley with The Mantis Muse © Alun Callender
‘Art has the power to surprise, to challenge, and to inspire curiosity — much like nature itself. With The Mantis Muse now being on show at the Horniman, I hope to encourage young minds to explore creativity fearlessly and remind us all that art deserves a place at the heart of education.’
David Shrigley