This work is available to view online or by request.
This work is float mounted in a white frame and is glazed.

Changing Ideas Award
"Reliquary – Milons Swallowtail" is a haunting vision of a world on the brink of irreversible loss. Part of Gill Walton’s Future Reliquaries series, it imagines a future in which butterflies, once symbols of joy and wonder, exist only in memory. With 80% of butterfly species having declined in abundance or range since the 1970s, Walton’s work asks us to confront the possibility that we may be the last generation to witness their fragile flight.
Walton draws inspiration from medieval reliquaries—sacred vessels that preserved what was then most precious—and transforms this language to honour endangered species. The Milons Swallowtail rests within a gold-lined niche, emphasising its irreplaceable value. A small glass vial, once holding ice from an iceberg, serves as a quiet testament to the fragile world we are rapidly altering.
Some reliquaries were encased in carved wooden figures of women, whose hidden chambers contained sacred relics. Walton channels this form, giving her figures expressive faces and timeless headdresses, suggesting the emotional resonance of the subject matter. Within the figure’s heart, the butterfly is cradled—a living memory, a reminder of beauty that can vanish. The drawing evokes the texture of carved wood while retaining a subtle vitality, bridging reverence with immediacy.
"Reliquary – Milons Swallowtail" is elegy and warning intertwined. It elevates the butterfly—and, by extension, all threatened life—to the status of the sacred, compelling us to recognise the consequences of inaction. In this quiet, intimate work, Walton asks us to cherish and defend the small wonders of our world before they exist only as relics of the past. It is a call to honour life, to mourn its loss, and to act before memory becomes the only home for what once thrived.