Humanities and Social Sciences Review, CD-ROM. ISSN: 2165-6258 :: 07(02):211–214 (2017) BETWEEN THE COCOON AND THE FLIGHT: A METAPHORICAL ESSAY THROUGH THE PRISM OF ARTSCIENCE Ericka Telles and Denise Lannes Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Joªo R. A. Silveira Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Harvard University, EUA Inspired by the profound transformation process of the caterpillar that becomes a butterfly, this essay appropriates of scientific concepts to metaphorize the transformation of an individual towards himself and the world around him. The biological concepts and objectives of metamorphosis and autophagy are the guiding for a subjective and artistic description of a personal process that goes beyond the intimate limits: by rescuing its essence and self-digesting the multiple versions of itself that contemporary life demands, a new being arises. The parallel between the personal transformation and the caterpillar transformation described in this work are an example of how the transdisciplinarity between art and science can bring new epistemological thoughts. Rather than just bring the two areas together, the artscience merger can foment both !knowing" and !feeling", and can go further by promoting different points of view and overall reflection, beyond the limits of compartmentalized knowledge. Keywords: Artscience, Art Science Transdisciplinarity Essay. Introduction Where there is life, there is transformation. Some transformations are physical and easily perceivable, other are internal and subtle. Inspired by the intense transformation process of the caterpillar that becomes a butterfly, this essay appropriates of scientific concepts to metaphorize the transformation of an individual towards itself and the world around it. The biological concepts and objectives of metamorphosis and autophagy are the guiding principles for a subjective and artistic description of a personal process that goes beyond the intimate limits: by rescuing its essence and self-digesting the multiple versions of itself that contemporary life demands, a new being arises. A transmuted being who changes its position towards the society in which it lives. By ceasing to be a caterpillar that only crawls to become a winged being, this new being, the butterfly, comes to assume the possibility to reach different points of view, of being in distinct places. In this sense, it is important to emphasize that the process of metamorphosis in holometabolous insects occurs when the body structures undergo remodeling (Tettamanti et al, 2008; Malagoli et al, 2010; romanelli et al, 2014). Araœjo e Paprocki (2015) enlighten that lepidopterans, like butterflies and moths, 211