The series of works by Elena Tormysheva "Imago" (10 objects) is being developed specifically for the Cosmoscow 2024 fair. Continuing the metaphor of the cocoon as a shelter, here we see the final stage of Golometamorphosis, the Imago stage.
Imago - (Latin imago - image, form), the ultimate (definitive) stage of individual development in insects.
At this stage, the cocoon shell breaks open, revealing still soft, delicate, and fragile wings. In the first few minutes after emerging from the chrysalis, the butterfly is not yet able to fly. It climbs vertical surfaces where it remains until its wings are fully spread. The wings harden and acquire their final coloring.
This work captures the moment of transition from one state to another, a kind of timeless moment when the butterfly has emerged from its shelter, transformed into a new, adapted creature, but has not yet realized its potential, the presence of wings - a new superpower.
The established systems, values, and fears of the past dissolve, while new attitudes and plans are just coming into effect and have not yet fully manifested.
In analytical psychology, this higher organism that has emerged is called selfhood. Imago is included in the self-development program. It is the closest approximation to oneself that can occur.
The fruit of transformation is a new form of life, distinct from the previous one. In the finale of this process, we seek new self-definition and identification, different from those in the first half of life.