Untitled, from the series, “Natural Wonder”

Gregory Crewdson's early work was inspired by dioramas in natural history museums. Using models and backdrops built in his studio, he constructed fictional worlds populated by animals and insects that are at once enchanting and unsettling. This photograph shows several birds perched around an orderly ring of eggs, which is set against an idyllic background of several farmhouses. It is unclear if the symmetrical arrangement of the eggs is actually the work of the birds, and, if so, what its meaning is. Crewdson deliberately undermines the notion of the American suburban garden as a place of normalcy. The assembly of eggs and birds serves as a metaphor for the perpetual mystery of nature that exists uneasily along the edges of civilization.