Chrysalis medium edition Ed. 1 of 12

Chrysalis - to transform.

Citrus, butterflies and insects, rich colour palette and hidden meanings. Drawing inspiration from Dutch still life, where elements in an artwork had symbolic meaning. The citrus represents luxury, the bees hard work/ industriousness, the butterflies and chrysalis tell a story of life and death. Death teaches us to prioritise life. A lovely piece to ponder the big questions with over a morning coffee.
This is a photographic artwork. I photograph each element myself and then carefully bring everything together in post-production. I hand paint with light and shadow to give the rich, painterly feel to my work. I oversee the printing of each piece in the edition, printed by a master printer, and sign each artwork.

The main elements of this artwork were photographed in my studio. The oranges were picked from my mother's garden and arranged. The butterflies, bees, insects and cocoon I photographed in my garden and carefully added/layered to give the piece depth, meaning and a point of curiosity. It's quite challenging to get insects to pose in the studio :)

Available in the following limited Editions:

146x100cm: Edition of 6+1AP
$3100

120x82cm: Edition of 6+2AP
$2100

90x62: Edition of 12+2AP
$1100

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Lauren Starr is an Australian photo-media artist creating narrative works at the intersection of myth, history, and land. Her practice centres on women’s lived and inherited experiences, drawing on fairytales, colonial histories, and personal ancestry to reimagine familiar stories through a contemporary lens.

Working with staged photography and digital compositing, Starr constructs painterly tableaux that sit between reality and myth. Her images often incorporate photographed fragments of her own paintings and textures, creating layered works that feel both symbolic and embodied.

Recent works explore themes of re-wilding, instinct, and the quiet reclamation of power, particularly through reimagined female archetypes and narratives from the Victorian goldfields.

Starr is a finalist in the 2026 Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize and has been recognised through the Olive Cotton Award and Head On Photo Awards. She is the recipient of the Bluethumb Art Prize (Photography + Grand Prize, 2022), and her work is held in public collections including Parliament House Melbourne and Bendigo Art Gallery.