Left: Rituales en Haiti, Cristina Garcia Rodero.
Metamorphing, exploring how the body has been transformed through art, science, mythology and religion is now showing at the Science Museum in London until February 16.
The show looks at the importance of transformation to life from both a cultural and scientific perspective. Such concepts are not new: Ovid's Metamorphoses proclaims, "All things are always changing …"
A key theme is the study of how humans are taking further control over how their bodies are changing and transforming, and what the consequence of this is.
Right: Images based on Ovid's metamorphoses & Dante, Niobe Monica Beisner.
Over 100 works can be seen, including contemporary artwork by well-known artists and a number of historical exhibits. These have been drawn from sources such as the British Museum, Victoria & Albert and the Natural History Museum.
Broadly divided into six themes, the exhibition deals with: Metamorphosis, Generation, Healing, Modification, Mutation and Transfiguration.
Common imagery guides the visitor through each section, allowing them to observe the interaction between themes. Each theme investigates an idea, from regeneration and evolution to the effects of drugs and mental illness.
Left: Saints Cosmas & Damian performing a transplant using leg of Moor.
Some of the contemporary artwork includes new work by Paula Rego inspired by Kafka's Metamorphoses; Mutant Insect paintings by Cornelia Hesse-Honegger; and a series of photographs of voodoo and dance rituals by Spanish artist Cristina Garcia Rodero.
Right: a Punjabi manuscript of the god Krisna cloning himself.
Scientific exhibits include a post-mescaline drawing by Henri Michaux; the mummified remains of a merman; and, unusually, a Phall-O-Meter - a ruler produced by the Intersex Society satirising the surgical decisions to resolve indeterminate sex.
Metamorphing is the joint effort from award-winning writer and critic Marina Warner and writer Sarah Bakewell. Both were working individually on similar projects exploring metamorphosis through mythology and in science, and were brought together by the Wellcome Trust to develop a much larger exhibition.
