Calling all naturalists and artists: collect fallen cicada wings!

Cicada wings or angels wings?

Have you, too, been transfixed by jewel-like cicada wings left on the ground? Would you like to help gather them for a parish art project?

This year ties us to our past. We mark 200 years since St. Matthew’s founding, and it has been about the same amount of time since the last appearance of this cicada double-brood. Yes, their shells and voices are everywhere—but so are their wings, records of transformation and trauma catching the light long after the bodies have disappeared.

Let’s gather these wings and make something with them as we piece together this parish’s history of violence and beauty.

If you’d like to participate, please collect any fallen wings you find on the ground in ziplock bags and bring them to the parish house, care of Robert+. Or you can drop them off on the front steps of 2408 George Anderson Dr., Hillsborough, NC 27278. Please email Joanna.murdoch@duke.edu if you can help brainstorm next steps for this community art project.