In the long line of Herlinde Koelbl's projects, this is the first time that no people are to be seen, and yet her main theme remains: transience. Metamorphoses comprises vivid portraits of flora in various states of bloom and decay: light piercing a broken leaf revealing a network of fine, branched veins; a lemon like a porous stone; a berry wrapped in delicate threads; petals curled in erotic shapes. The book is an investigation into the nature of beauty in painterly hues and a wealth of forms: an intricate, fragile beauty that is only revealed when one pays as close attention as Koelbl does. It is a beauty that approaches abstraction and yet is ultimately less about appearance than the unceasing processes of change and renewal at work in nature. In Koelbl's words: "The present and the past flow into each other. And in reappearance lies the future.">Even in the process of decay, nature brings forth new beauty and altered perception. It requires a special attentiveness, a close look, to recognize this. - Herlinde Koelbl
