Pretty Weird
Collection:UAL Art Collection
Date: 2025
Dimensions:
200 x 126 x 57cm
Medium: Polystyrene, polylactic acid, rhinestones, glitter, acrylic
Object number: UAC 1197
See Also
DescriptionFarid studied MA Design for Social Innovation and Sustainable Futures. He says, ''Pretty Weird' is a rhinestone-encrusted, larger-than-life woodlouse sculpture that transforms an overlooked detritivore into a spectacle. Floating between kitsch and reverence, the work interrogates ecological aesthetics through a queer, decolonial lens. Developed with the London Wildlife Trust’s Keeping it Wild Collective, it celebrates uncharismatic species as anchor figures in everyday urban ecologies. The common woodlouse, known by over 250 names across the UK, is reimagined as a symbol of unseen ecological labour. Pretty Weird playfully critiques beauty hierarchies in conservation, inviting us to find wonder in what’s usually ignored'.