The production and exhibition of replicas of archaeological material were a very significant and serious enterprise by museums in the late nineteenth-century Europe. Replicas included plaster casts, watercolour copies, brass rubbings, paper mosaics, and from the 1850s onwards, photographs.
When one looks at a spider, many describe the creature as creepy, scary, venomous or dangerous. On the other hand, many ancient cultures associated the spider with cunning, determination and creation. While scorpions and ticks also feature in a couple of ancient myths, they are not nearly as popular as spiders, with even the scientific name of the taxonomic class that includes all arachnids, Arachnida, named after a character from an ancient Greek myth (Arachne).
The Diptera, or True flies, are one of the most diverse groups of insects with over 160 000 species known to science (Evenhuis & Pape 2025). However, if you ask a person on the street how many flies there are they typically answer with “too many” and can usually name about five: house flies, blow flies, mosquitos, crane flies (usually wrongly assumed to be long-legged mosquitos) and horse flies.
Introduction
South Africa’s contemporary art scene is a vibrant reflection of its diverse cultural and social landscape. Black female artists, in particular, have played a critical role in redefining artistic narratives, often addressing issues of identity, gender, social justice and historical memory. The Art Bank of South Africa (ArtbankSA), established in 2017 under the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, is instrumental in fostering and supporting these artists.
The Tristan da Cunha Archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean comprises Gough Island, Tristan da Cunha, Nightingale Island, and Inaccessible Island. Gough Island, located about 350 km from the other islands, is approximately 2,700 km from Cape Town, South Africa, and 3,200 km from South America, making it one of the world’s most remote locations.