The Mantis Muse

Back to What’s On
Free, drop in
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 and will also see a series of events taking place around the installation, including yoga, crafts 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