Chrysalis: Real Transformation is a coffee table book to end them all. That is, it’ll be ending all other books that are on the issue of transformation. In a very specific way. It’ll be ground-breaking, I can guarantee you that. Very slightly ground-breaking. In a subtle way.
Okay, so Real Transformation details those tiny changes humans make to themselves that sometimes even go unnoticed. You might get a small tattoo on your elbow of a leaf, or give your eyebrows a little bit of a trim. I live in Bendigo, and laser hair removal is only just taking off as a viable and safe option of removing hair. More and more people are going for that option, which is lovely and all that, but the true transformation that takes place is often glossed over. Oh, you got some cosmetic tattooing? How nice, I didn’t notice.
I suppose that;’s my main drive in creating this book: that people don’t notice. Not that I want everyone to be on the master detective level, but I would like to see a more just society where someone has their hair done, or whatever it may be, and that change is acknowledged. Thus, I’ve compiled an entire list of people who’ve changed themselves, mostly in subtle ways. I have a lady from Melbourne who took a picture before she went to get some lip fillers. If you covered the left hand picture and just looked at the ‘after’ photo, you wouldn’t think much. Maybe that she was pretty, nice eyes, full lips, if you’re the type who sees detail like that. But then you look at how she used to be, and wow, your eyes are opened! What full, luscious lips! And so on. It’ll be a force for social change, with a foreward written by several of those Bendigo cosmetic tattooing people I mentioned, who definitely understand the subject matter. I want people to see what a change a small thing makes. That way, they’ll finally understand.
-Edwin