Ψυχή, psykhé, the butterfly…
Metamorphosis of the tiny egg into a caterpillar, then a chrysalis, and finally an insect with wings that are sometimes dazzling. Since time immemorial, the butterfly has suggested the fascinating image of the transmutations of the human soul. Thus, fluttering from Greek mythology to the Far Eastern imagination, at the heart of Aztec legends, or even in the Dreamtime of the Aboriginal tribes of Australia… the butterfly, a universal symbol, also fascinates us today with the fragile multiplicity of its forms and colors.
Butterfly and flame… The pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus imagined that our souls, like the rest of the universe, were composed of a blazing ether whose fire was kindled by the slightest feeling inspired by the gods.
A fleeting, glowing red butterfly drawn to flames, its colorful wings seem to punctuate the perpetual interplay of terrifying separations and yearnings for rediscovered unity: a threat of self-destruction or a promise of salutary psychic renewal, a union of opposites in a certain lightness of being.
Based on research into the morphogenesis of these delicate insects, David Balade presents a series of 12 butterfly illustrations, using gouache, pastels, and ink on paper.