Outlook Mixtape: The butterfly effect

Rena Effendi felt she barely knew her father. Rustam Effendi was one of the most notable butterfly scientists in the Soviet Union but Rena only remembers meeting him for the first time when she was six years old; just seven years later he died of cancer. Decades later Rena, now a professional photographer, discovered that one of Rustam’s friends had named a butterfly after him – the Satyrus effendi. But she would have to cross a warzone to find the butterfly. She shared her journey with Outlook earlier this year in an episode called ‘The rare butterfly that led me to my father.’

Romy McCloskey is an American costume designer and butterfly enthusiast whose embroidery skills came in handy when one of her beloved butterflies suffered a broken wing. Her mother’s death from cancer left her with a love of butterflies. 'Anytime you see a butterfly, know that I am always there,' her mother told her. Romy spoke to Outlook in the January 2018 episode ‘Performing surgery on a butterfly wing.’

Andrew Fusek-Peters turned the fear of a cancer diagnosis into something remarkable. As he was undergoing treatment, he worked on new techniques to photograph butterflies in flight and taking off from flowers. Since he first spoke to us in October 2023 he's published a book with pictures of all the UK's native species of butterfly, called Butterfly Safari.

Isaac Kehimkar from India is also known as the 'Butterfly Man'. This is because he's spent forty years chasing butterflies and he reckons there's nothing more beautiful in nature... Outlook's Divya Arya went to meet him in this interview first aired in January 2017.

Presenter: Jo Fidgen
Producer: Hetal Bapodra

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(Photo: A transparent 60-minute cassette tape spooled halfway through and lying on a white background. It bears a slim white label with the words ‘THE OUTLOOK MIXTAPE’ written in black. Credit: Getty Images)