Metamorphosis is a collection shaped through sustained attention
to memory, grief and the quiet transformations that unfold through repeated acts of folding.
Thousands of origami butterflies accumulate into fragile fields where lived time becomes material form.
Through installation and image,
small gestures,
repeated over time,
become shared acts of remembrance.
Each work asks whether remembering might itself become an act of care.
INSTALLATION
Metamorphosis In-Situ
Installation & Film Documentation
PHOTOGRAPHIC WORKS
Metamorphosis Series
Editioned Photographs
COLLECTION NOTES
Metamorphosis explores memory through folding, repetition and accumulation.
Beginning with the simple gesture of folding one origami butterfly each week, the collection gradually expands into installations, photographs, films and artist books. Across these forms, repeated acts become material records of lived time.
Commenced: 2020
STATUS
→ Retained in the Artist Archive
→ Reserved for future retrospective exhibition
WORKS
• 2,444 individual butterflies
• Installation
• Photography
• Moving image
• Artist books
EXPLORE
→ Exhibition Enquiries
→ Publications
MATERIALS
Archival paper, Japanese folding techniques, handwritten texts, outdoor installation, archival pigment photography and moving image documentation.
METAMORPHOSIS
Metamorphosis is where Material Elegies begins.
The collection emerged from a simple weekly act: folding one origami butterfly for each week of my life. Over time, those individual gestures accumulated into fragile fields where memory could be encountered as material rather than recollection.
The butterfly functions less as symbol than as measure. Each fold records duration. Together they create structures shaped not by spectacle but by patience, repetition and care. Installation, photography, film and artist books each document different moments within the same unfolding enquiry.
Across the collection, folding becomes both process and witness. The work asks how small actions, repeated over time, might transform grief into something that can be held, shared and revisited.
Rather than preserving memory unchanged, Metamorphosis allows it to remain alive through continual remaking. Each encounter becomes another fold within the work itself.
Collection Legacy
Metamorphosis formed the foundation of Stephen Russell-Brett’s BA Honours in Visual Multimedia Arts (Cum Laude), completed at UNISA in 2025. The investigation also led to Metamorphosis of Memory: Unfolding Tomorrow’s Dialogue (2024), recipient of a Merit Award at the Luxembourg Art Prize.
Metamorphosis is part of Material Elegies, an ongoing practice exploring memory, transformation and the practice of attention through vulnerable materials.