Puzzling Aliens

PUZZLING ALIENS | Insectoids series | Puzzling Pop Project

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Extraterrestrial existence, once a fringe belief, has taken a significant turn. The U.S. government, known to possess hidden information for decades, has kept the secrets of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) along with remnants of "non-human" bodies and vehicles on military bases.

In a remarkable turn of events in 2023, during a U.S. Congressional hearing, three former military officers testified under oath, confirming the government's possession of classified UAP information never disclosed to the public. This revelation has suddenly thrust the concept of extraterrestrial life from the realm of fringe belief into the mainstream, legitimized by the contemporary media system.

It's worth pondering whether this official recognition, backed by institutional authorities, serves a purpose in preparing populations for potential future scenarios, such as alien invasion (akin to Project Blue Beam). This mirrors the role played by comic books and sci-fi films in the 1950s, reflecting the anxieties of the Cold War era by portraying aliens as menacing invaders from outer space, subtly evoking the image of the Soviet Communist threat.

In 2016, as part of the > Big Deal exhibition with a Science Fiction theme, Morucchio created a series of works  > Pulp  inspired by 1950s SciFi comics. In these artworks, he digitally reimagined aliens abducting fainting young ladies, some of whom had insect-like features.
  
Insects have fascinated writers and readers of SF ever since the genre’s early days, when Earthlings battled bug-eyed monsters in pulp magazines. Insects provide the perfect template for alien biology.

Hence Morucchio's idea, as part of the Puzzling Pop project, to use as subjects for a new series of works precisely portraits of aliens in the appearance of insects or arachnids namely Insectoids. These are processed, as in all the works of the Puzzling Pop project, by digitally arranging thousands of photographic pieces of butterfly wings.

Ancient Alien and UFO theorists hypothesize that the Insectoids are a remnant species from ancient times. This theory comes from tribal oral history of Native Americans and also African folklore. These stories hold the praying mantis in reverence, as though they were gods that are said to have given humans tools and skills.