METAMORPHOSIS 8" x 10" print

“Science asks us to learn about organisms. Traditional knowledge asks us to learn from them”. -Robin Wall Kimmerer

This artwork is from a 2022 wall calendar project and is exploring how change happens in the more-than-human world. What is the pace? What is the scale? The catalysts, the intelligence, the resources? The plants and animals are powerful teachers and offer abundant examples of how, specifically, to practice a cooperative, interconnected life. Here I explore examples of Pollination (sharing), Metamorphosis (forming), Germination (growing), and Decomposition (Dying). Each monthly page includes a few questions about how these examples might translate to human experiences.

Metamorphosis: RE-FORMING. MONARCH BUTTERFLY. Gloria Anzaldúa says “nothing happens in the real world until it happens first in the images in our own head.” When caterpillars become butterflies, they have cells that are called imaginal cells which are the primary catalysts of transformation. What circumstances help your imagination come alive?