Fine Art nominee

This series was shot as part of an ongoing personal project, in collaboration with a local museum in Gloucestershire, UK. These tropical butterflies were collected, preserved and donated to the museum in the mid-20th Century, but have never actually been displayed. Instead, their vividly coloured and intricately patterned bodies were shut inside a wooden box and placed on a shelf in the museum stores, where they have remained for decades. Through creative lighting techniques, these images seek to portray the strange stasis that these butterflies have been trapped within - protected from the normal passing of Time and the decay and destruction it brings to all living things. Preserved in darkness.

Theo Deproost’s fine-art work displays a clear and unifying objective - to nurture a more exploratory, imaginative and gratifying approach to viewing the world around us; probing the liminal space between art, documentation and education. When producing photographic work, Deproost strives to combine a high level of technical ability with an inquisitive creativity.


+ Winner of Honourable Mention, ND Awards, 2023

+ Short-listed in the British Photography Awards, fine-art category, 2023

+ Awarded ‘Official Selection’, International Photography Awards, 2023

+ Winner of Honourable Mention, Paris Photo Prize, 2023

+ Short-listed for the Royal Photographic Society’s International Photography Exhibition, 2023

+ Lost In Time featured in an article by Aesthetica Magazine, 2023

+ Special guest on ‘Jo Durrant’s Beautiful Universe’ podcast, ep.133, available on Spotify, Amazon, Apple, 2023

+ Nominated for Fine Art Photography Awards, 2023

+ Unfamiliar featured in an article by the British Journal of Photography, 2023

+ Long-listed for the Aesthetica Art Prize, 2023

+ Unfamiliar featured in an article by The Hippocratic Post, 2023

+ Unfamiliar featured in an article by Wallpaper*, 2023

+ Solo exhibition, Unfamiliar, at the Royal College of Physicians, 2023