Insects and their otherworldly appearance are an important source of inspiration for art, literature and science. Not just their strange shapes and habits have captivated our imagination, but also, and perhaps more importantly, their metamorphosis. Insects undergo a strange transformation from a larval state to the full grown adult. No other artist, in my opinion, more exquisitely captured this process than Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717). This Hessian entomologist and artist inspired my con...

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