Using change The great exponent of changing forms was the 19th century scientist Charles Darwin. The idea that we could begin as one species and develop into another was a startling proposal to people who believed in eternal forms. Nevertheless, metamorphosis (the changing form), has always existed. Caterpillars change to butterflies, eggs to birds, seeds to trees. Nothing is constant. Man to bird A contemporary cartoon (right) ridiculing Darwin's ideas on evolution.
Teapot to scorpion (below) Hallucinogenic drugs, fatigue and mental instabilities can produce effects where the normal appears abnormal. Reality changes with our perceptions of it. Successful metamorphosis depends upon the unlikely transformation of one object into another.
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Man to monster (opposite) Readers in the 19th century were particularly fond of stories involving human changes of form. This is an illustration to the Gothic novel by Stevenson of the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The effectiveness of these stories depends on the assumption that goodness has one face and evil another.
Seeing possibilities The seven objects [right] were collected from illustrations in popular magazines. Try to imagine other forms which could be developed from these.