Irina Adam
PHOTOGRAPHY

Webs / Spider Creek

During the drought of autumn 2024 in the Hudson Valley, the hollow around a dwindling creek got covered in large spiderwebs, over precious mosquito hunting territory.
Intricate weavings stretched across grasses and small trees, are festively visible just for a spell, by angled morning sunrays.
Part of a series exploring transforming local landscapes over time. We visit at dawn, in awe.
The female orb spider spins different silks for weft and warp. At night she devours the web, and after an hour's rest rebuilds her world anew, recycling the proteins, using yesterday's exact anchors, attuned to land and wind.

In October the rains started. I continued the series with the last, water-bejewled webs and created the olfactory scent piece 'Arachne: Spiderwebs in the Rain'. The following summer the webs were very few and the dead tree holding many of them during drought over the creek, had fallen.